Meanings
caret1
plural carets
- A mark ⟨ ‸ ⟩ used by writers and proofreaders to indicate that something is to be inserted at that point.
- An exponentiation symbol or operator ⟨^⟩.
- user interfaceAn indicator, often a blinking line or bar and usually called a cursor, indicating where the next insertion or other edit will take place.
- nonstandardA circumflex ⟨ ˆ ⟩.
- nonstandardA háček ⟨ ˇ ⟩.
[…] the more conventional semivocalic j and the caret (ˇ) respectively.
1944, Maro Beath Jones, “Inclusive Uniform Alphabet for Russian, Bulgarian, Serb-Croatian, Czech, Polish”, in Claremont Slavic Series, Claremont College, page 102 more examples
The caret (ˇ), háček, is used over the following consonants: c, d, n, t, r, s, and z to indicate the soft sound. The caret (ˇ) is also used over the vowel e (See Pronunciation II, b, p, v).
1948, Bohumil Emil Mikula, Progressive Czech (Bohemian) (Chicago: Czechoslovak National Council of America), 6In contemporary Czech, the “hook” or caret is no longer in use for lower-case t and d when the latter are palatal; instead, an apostrophe is used (t’, d’) This development is clearly connected with the practical difficulty encountered in printing a caret over letter stems that are too thin.
1991, Michael Shapiro, The Sense of Change: Language as History, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 58, →ISBN
caret2
plural carets
- archaicA kind of turtle, the hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata).
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
caret · noun
- Latincaret“it lacks”
- Englishcaret
From the Latin caret (“it lacks”), the third-person singular present active indicative form of careō (“to lack”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →caret · noun
- Frenchcaret
- Frenchcaret
- Englishcaret
Borrowed from French caret.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Czech stříška, vynechávka v rukopise
- stříškasymbol
- vynechávka v rukopisesymbol
Esperanto ĉapelo
- ĉapelosymbol
Finnish sirkumfleksi
- sirkumfleksisymbol
French circonflexe
- circonflexesymbol
German Einschaltungszeichen, Zirkumflex
- Einschaltungszeichensymbol
- Zirkumflexsymbol
- Dachsymbol
- Einfügezeichensymbol
- Exponent-Operatorsymbol
Hungarian hiányjel, beszúrásjel
- hiányjelsymbol
- beszúrásjelsymbol
- betoldásjelsymbol
- beszúrási jelsymbol
- háztetősymbol
- kalapsymbol
- hatványjelsymbol
Māori hiwi, tohu hiwi
- hiwisymbol
- tohu hiwisymbol
Portuguese acento circunflexo
- acento circunflexosymbol
Spanish signo de intercalación
- signo de intercalaciónsymbol
Turkish düzeltme imi
- düzeltme imisymbol
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with caret
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
caret. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caret
“caret.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caret. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “caret,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caret.
Source: caret on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.