Meanings
plural guillemets
- Either of the punctuation marks « or » (or ‹ or ›), used in several languages to indicate passages of speech. Similar to typical quotation marks used in the English language, such as “ and ”.
Guillemets, however, proved popular and remain the key method of indicating quotations in French, Arabic, Italian, Greek and many other languages.
2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 49Synonyms: angle quote, chevron, duckfoot quote, double angle quotation mark
Synonyms & antonyms
nounEither of the punctuation marks « or » (or ‹ or ›), used in several languages to indicate passages of speech. Similar to typical quotation marks used in the English language, such as “ and ”.
Origin
- Frenchguillemet
- Englishguillemet
From French guillemet, diminutive form of the name Guillaume (“William”), named after French typecutter Guillaume Le Bé (1525–1598) who supposedly invented the marks.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic عَلَامَات تَنْصِيص, عَلَامَات اِقْتِبَاس
- عَلَامَات تَنْصِيص (ʕalāmāt tanṣīṣ)either of the punctuation marks « or »
- عَلَامَات اِقْتِبَاس (ʕalāmāt iqtibās)either of the punctuation marks « or »
Chinese Mandarin 書名號 /书名号, 《 and 》
- 書名號 /书名号 (shūmínghào)either of the punctuation marks « or »
- 《 and 》either of the punctuation marks « or »
- 〈 and 〉either of the punctuation marks « or »
- 尖角引號 /尖角引号 (jiānjiǎo yǐnhào)either of the punctuation marks « or »
Finnish kulmalainausmerkki
- kulmalainausmerkkieither of the punctuation marks « or »
French guillemet
- guillemeteither of the punctuation marks « or »
German Guillemet, Möwchen
- Guillemeteither of the punctuation marks « or »
- Möwcheneither of the punctuation marks « or »
Greek εισαγωγικά
- εισαγωγικά (eisagogiká)either of the punctuation marks « or »
Hungarian lúdláb, lúdlábidézőjel
- lúdlábeither of the punctuation marks « or »
- lúdlábidézőjeleither of the punctuation marks « or »
- csúcsos idézőjeleither of the punctuation marks « or »
- kúpos idézőjeleither of the punctuation marks « or »
Italian citazioni d'angolo, virgolette
- citazioni d'angoloeither of the punctuation marks « or »
- virgoletteeither of the punctuation marks « or »
- virgolettatoeither of the punctuation marks « or »
- segno diacriticoeither of the punctuation marks « or »
Japanese ギュメ, 《 and 》
- ギュメ (gyume)either of the punctuation marks « or »
- 《 and 》either of the punctuation marks « or »
- 〈 and 〉either of the punctuation marks « or »
Norwegian Bokmål sjevron
- sjevroneither of the punctuation marks « or »
Polish cudzysłów ostrokątny
- cudzysłów ostrokątnyeither of the punctuation marks « or »
Portuguese aspas angulares
- aspas angulareseither of the punctuation marks « or »
Romanian ghilimele, semnul citării
- ghilimeleeither of the punctuation marks « or »
- semnul cităriieither of the punctuation marks « or »
Russian ёлочка
- ёлочка (jóločka)either of the punctuation marks « or »
Spanish comillas latinas, comillas españolas
- comillas latinaseither of the punctuation marks « or »
- comillas españolaseither of the punctuation marks « or »
- comillas angulareseither of the punctuation marks « or »
- comillas bajaseither of the punctuation marks « or »
Cite this entry
guillemet. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guillemet
“guillemet.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guillemet. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “guillemet,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guillemet.
Source: guillemet on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.