comma

plural commas · plural rare commata · obsolete plural commaes · alternative obsolete come

1. mediaThe punctuation mark ⟨,⟩ used to indicate a set of parts of a sentence or between elements of a list.

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   No points were used by the ancient printers, excepting the colon and the period; but, after some time, a short oblique stroke, called a virgil, was introduced, which answered to the modern comma. In the fifteenth century this punctuation was improved by the famous Aldus Manutius with the typographical art in general; when he gave a better shape to the comma, added the semicolon, and assigned to the former points more proper places.

   1828, Richard Thomson, Illustrations of the History of Great Britain, Vol. II, pp. 145–6

   Synonyms: scratch comma, virgule, virgula, come, comma-point

2. RomanianmediaA similar-looking subscript diacritical mark.
3. biologyAny of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Polygonia, having a comma-shaped white mark on the underwings, especially Polygonia c-album and Polygonia c-aureum of North Africa, Europe, and Asia.

   Other members of this genus that are frequently encountered in the park are the eastern comma (P. comma) and question mark (P. interrogationis).

   2013, Ann Simpson, Rob Simpson, “Butterflies and Moths”, in Nature Guide to Shenandoah National Park (Falcon Pocket Guide), Guilford, Conn.; Helena, Mont.: Falcon Guides, Globe Pequot Press, →ISBN, page 91

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   Commas (Polygonia comma) and Question Marks (Polygonia interrogationis) occur from the Gulf Coast to Canada and west to the Rockies. [...] Question Marks and Commas are handsome butterflies with burnt orange and black markings. [...] On the underside of each hind wing of the Comma is a small, distinctive silver hook that resembles a comma.

   2004, Scott Shalaway, “Close-ups”, in Butterflies in the Backyard, Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 18

4. entertainmentA difference in the calculation of nearly identical intervals by different ways.
5. biologyA delimiting marker between items in a genetic sequence.
6. rhetoricIn Ancient Greek rhetoric, a short clause, something less than a colon, originally denoted by comma marks. In antiquity it was defined as a combination of words having no more than eight syllables in all. It was later applied to longer phrases, e.g. the Johannine comma.
7. figurativelyA brief interval.
8. climatologyA cloud shaped like a comma because of differential rotation of the cloud border and adjacent upward and downward vertical motions, often appearing in large and intense low-pressure systems.

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   Satellite images on Monday morning revealed the textbook “comma cloud” shape of a powerful nor’easter. The storm’s long tail stretches south through the Florida peninsula, while the main “head” of the comma churns over the Northeastern United States, where the most severe conditions have been unfolding.

   2026 February 23, Judson Jones, “See the Storm’s Shape From Space”, in The New York Times, retrieved 25 Sep 2026

present singular third person commas · participle present commaing · participle past commaed · past commaed · participle past comma'd · past comma'd · alternative obsolete come

1. raretransitiveTo place a comma or commas within text; to follow, precede, or surround a portion of text with commas.