Editing Ellipsis (section)

{{short description|Triple-dot punctuation mark}}
{{about|the punctuation mark|the syntactic omission of words|Ellipsis (linguistics)|other uses}}
{{redirect|...|other uses|Three dots (disambiguation)}}
{{distinguish|Ellipse}}
{{bots|deny=AWB}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox punctuation mark|mark = … <!-- leave this as the Unicode ellipsis character. [[MOS:ELLIPSIS]] does not apply in this specific context. -->
|name = Ellipsis
|other_names =
|unicode = {{unichar|2026|HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS|html=}}
|variant1 = ...|caption1 = [[AP Stylebook|AP format]]<!--
-->|variant2 = .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.|caption2=[[The Chicago Manual of Style|Chicago format]]<!--
-->|variant3 = ⋯|caption3=Mid-line ellipsis<!--
-->|variant4 =  ⋮|caption4=Vertical ellipsis}}
The '''ellipsis''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|l|ɪ|p|s|ɪ|s}}, plural '''ellipses'''; from {{langx|grc|ἔλλειψις}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|élleipsis}}, {{lit|leave out}}<ref name=OED>{{Cite web|title=ellipsis|url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/ellipsis|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714180356/https://www.lexico.com/definition/ellipsis|archive-date=14 July 2020|work=Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=Lexico.com|access-date=13 July 2020}}</ref>), rendered {{char|...}}, alternatively described as '''suspension points'''<ref name="MerriamWebster">{{cite book |title=Merriam-Webster's Manual for Writers and Editors |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-87779-622-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7C6V9zRxSPkC |access-date=2024-10-16}}</ref>{{rp|19}}/'''dots''', <!--'''suspension''', --> '''points'''<ref name="MerriamWebster" />{{rp|19}}/'''periods of ellipsis''', or '''ellipsis points''',<ref name="MerriamWebster" />{{rp|19}} or [[colloquialism|colloquially]], '''dot-dot-dot''',<ref name="Toner">{{cite book |first=Anne |last=Toner |title=Ellipsis in English Literature: Signs of Omission |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2015 |page=151}}. According to Toner it is difficult to establish when the "dot dot dot" phrase was first used. There is an early instance, which is perhaps the first in a piece of fiction, in [[Virginia Woolf]]'s short story "An Unwritten Novel" (1920).</ref><ref>Source for ''suspension'': {{cite web |last=Trask |first=Larry |author-link=Larry Trask |title=Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations |work=Guide to Puntuation [sic.] |date=1997 |publisher=Department of Informatics, [[University of Sussex]] |url= https://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/punctuation/quotes/marks |access-date=1 January 2024}}{{not verified in body|date = July 2024}}</ref> is a  [[punctuation mark]] consisting of a series of three dots. An ellipsis can be used in many ways, such as for intentional omission of text or numbers, to imply a concept without using words.<ref name=OED /> Style guides differ on how to render an ellipsis in printed material.