Meanings
noun
- biologyThe basic dot (‧) used to end a sentence in medieval punctuation (ancestral to the full stop/period).
The most common item of punctuation was the punctus or point.
2011 July 22, Tadao Kudouchi, edited by Akio Oizumi and Jacek Fisiak, English Historical Linguistics and Philology in Japan, De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 1722 more examples
In the sacerdotal prayers in col. a the punctuation is by punctus flexus, punctus elevatus and punctus.
1993, Malcolm Beckwith Parkes, Pause and Effect, Plates and Commentaries, page 197Curiously, the punctus versus was largely replaced with a punctus by ca.1100.
2015 August 31, “Medieval Manuscripts”, in Albrecht Classen, editor, Handbook of Medieval Culture, volume 2, De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 1015
Origin
- Medieval Latinpunctus“punctuation mark”
- Englishpunctus
From Medieval Latin punctus (“punctuation mark”).
More words from Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
punctus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punctus
MLA
“punctus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punctus. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “punctus,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punctus.
Source: punctus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.