comma (English)
Where does "comma" come from?
The word 'comma' traces its roots back to the Ancient Greek verb 'kóptō', meaning to cut or strike, combined with a suffix denoting the result of an action. Originally referring to a physical 'cut' or a short melodic segment in rhetoric, the term was adopted into Latin and eventually English to describe a mark used to separate parts of a sentence. This evolution captures how a concept of physical division came to define the rhythmic pauses we use in our writing today.
Full etymology tree
- comma (English), 'The punctuation mark ⟨,⟩ used to indicate a set of parts of a sentence or between elements of a list.'
- borrowed comma (Latin), 'a comma (a division, member, or section of a period smaller than a colon)'
- borrowed κόμμα (kómma) (Ancient Greek), 'a stamp or impression of a coin, coinage'
- compound κόπτω (kóptō) (Ancient Greek), 'to strike; cut; shake'
- inherited *(s)kop- (Proto-Indo-European)
- compound -μα (-ma) (Ancient Greek), 'Added to verbal stems to form neuter nouns denoting the effect or result of an action, a particular instance of an action, or the object of an action'
- inherited *-mn̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'Creates action nouns or result nouns from verbs.'
- compound κόπτω (kóptō) (Ancient Greek), 'to strike; cut; shake'
- borrowed κόμμα (kómma) (Ancient Greek), 'a stamp or impression of a coin, coinage'
- borrowed comma (Latin), 'a comma (a division, member, or section of a period smaller than a colon)'
Direct ancestors
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris