Section sign

{{Pp-vandalism|small=yes}} {{Infobox symbol | mark = § | unicode = {{unichar|00A7|html=}} | see also = {{unichar|00B6|nlink=}} }}

The '''section sign''' ('''§''') is a typographical symbol for referencing individually numbered sections of a document; it is frequently used when citing sections of a legal code.<ref name="Standler">{{cite web | title = Legal Research and Citation Style in USA |first=Ronald M. |last=Standler | url = http://www.rbs0.com/lawcite.htm#anchor333333 | year = 2004 | access-date = 2009-12-15}}</ref> It is also known as the '''section symbol''', '''section mark''', '''double-s''', or '''silcrow'''.<ref name="Radoeva2017"/><ref name="Butterick">{{ cite web | first = Matthew | last = Butterick | title = Butterick's Practical Typography: Paragraphs and Section Marks| url = https://practicaltypography.com/paragraph-and-section-marks.html | access-date = 2017-10-07}}</ref>

The section sign typically appears akin to a letter S stacked on top of another S.<ref>{{cite web |title=How to Use a Section Mark or Silcrow {{!}} Monotype |url=https://www.monotype.com/resources/punctuation-series-section-sign |website=www.monotype.com |language=en |date=2 August 2022}}</ref>

== Use == The section sign is often used when referring to a specific section of a legal code. For example, in Bluebook style, "Title 16 of the United States Code Section 580p" becomes "16 U.S.C. §{{nbsp}}580p".<ref name="GL-BB">{{cite web |title=Guides: Bluebook Guide: Federal Statutes |url=http://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=261289&p=2383798 |publisher=Georgetown University Law Library |access-date=December 6, 2018 |language=en |date=August 9, 2018}}</ref> The section sign is frequently used along with the ''pilcrow'' (or ''paragraph sign''), {{char|¶}}, to reference a specific paragraph within a section of a document. However, some jurisdictions prefer the sign be avoided, and rather that the word "section" be written out in full.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Symbols :: California Secretary of State |url=https://www.sos.ca.gov/web-standards/writing/symbols |access-date=2025-07-05 |website=www.sos.ca.gov}}</ref>

While {{char|§}} is usually read in spoken English as the word "section", many other languages use the word "paragraph" exclusively to refer to a section of a document (especially of legal text), and use other words to describe a paragraph in the English sense. Consequently, in those cases "§" may be read as "''paragraph"'', and may occasionally also be described as a "paragraph sign", but this is a description of its usage, not a formal name.<ref name="unicode-latin1">{{cite web | title = The Unicode Standard, Version 10.0 – C1 Controls and Latin-1 Supplement | url = https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0080.pdf | access-date = 2017-10-07}}</ref><ref name="radar">{{cite web |title=Some text-to-speech voices read the section symbol as paragraph instead of section |url=http://www.openradar.me/32449535 |access-date=2017-10-07 }}</ref>

When duplicated, as {{char|§§}}, it is read as the plural "sections". For example, "§§{{nbsp}}13–21" would be read as "sections 13 through 21", much as {{char|pp.}} (pages) is the plural of {{char|p.}}, meaning page.

It may also be used with footnotes when asterisk {{char|*}}, dagger {{char|†}}, and double dagger {{char|‡}} have already been used on a given page.

It is common practice to follow the section sign with a non-breaking space so that the symbol is kept with the section number being cited.<ref name="Standler" /><ref name="Felici">{{cite book |last=Felici |first=James |year=2012 |title=The Complete Manual of Typography |edition=Second |isbn=978-0-321-77326-5 }}</ref>{{rp|212, 233}}

This is also used in German language ({{langx|de|Paragraf}}). For example, "{{Lang|de|§ 242 im deutschen Strafgesetzbuch}}" (article 242 of the German Criminal Code).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Toyka-Seid |first=Gerd Schneider Christiane |title=Paragraf (§) |url=https://www.bpb.de/kurz-knapp/lexika/das-junge-politik-lexikon/320902/paragraf-ss/ |website=BPB}}</ref>

== Unicode == frame|Two common representations of the section sign The section sign appeared in several early computer text encodings. It was placed at {{tt|0xA7}} (167) in ISO-8859-1, a position that was inherited by Unicode as code point {{unichar|00A7|Section Sign}}. Representation of the sign is an artistic decision within the overall design language of the typeface (or computer font): the two more commonly seen forms are shown here.<ref>{{cite web |title=Manual: *@©™®†‡§¶❦☜ |url=https://type.today/en/journal/etc#pilcrow-paragraph-mark-section-sign |website=type.today |language=en}}</ref> In all cases, the sign is encoded by U+00A7.

== Origin == Two possible origins are often posited for the section sign: most probably, that it is a ligature formed by the combination of two S glyphs (from the Latin ''signum sectiōnis'').<ref name="Webb-2018">{{cite book |title=Clash of Symbols |last=Webb |first=Stephen |year=2018 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |type=eBook |isbn=978-3-319-71350-2 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=529GDwAAQBAJ&dq=signum+sectionis&pg=PA22}}</ref><ref name="Radoeva2017">{{cite web |publisher=Monotype Imaging |title=The section sign |series=Punctuation series |last=Radoeva |first=Krista |url=https://www.fontsmith.com/blog/2017/01/12/punctuation-series-the-section-sign |date=2017-01-12 |access-date=2020-07-19 |archive-date=2022-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129070002/https://www.fontsmith.com/blog/2017/01/12/punctuation-series-the-section-sign |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Webster1886"/><ref>{{cite book |page=32 |url={{GBurl|id=aR1PAAAAYAAJ}} |title=Aids to English Composition, Prepared for Students of All Grades |first=Richard Green |last=Parker |year=1851 |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Brothers}}</ref> Some scholars, however, are skeptical of this explanation.<ref>{{cite thesis |year=1894 |first=Erwin Herbert |last=Lewis |title=The History of the English Paragraph |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=11, 16–17 |url={{GBurl|id=HP00AQAAMAAJ}} |oclc=6077629}}</ref>

Others have theorized that it is an adaptation of the Ancient Greek {{lang |grc |παράγραφος}} (''paragraphos''),<ref name="Webster1886">{{cite book |via=Internet Archive |page=1784 |title= Webster's Complete Dictionary of the English Language |last=Webster |first=Noah |author-link=Noah Webster |year=1886 |location=London |publisher=George Bell & Sons |edition=Authorized and Unabridged |chapter=Arbitrary signs used in writing and printing |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/websterscomplete00webs/page/1784/mode/2up}}</ref> a catch-all term for a class of punctuation marks used by scribes with diverse shapes and intended uses.<ref>{{cite book |last=Garulli |first=Valentina |title=The Materiality of Text: Placement, Perception, and Presence of Inscribed Texts in Classical Antiquity |date=2018-10-09 |publisher=Brill Publishers |isbn=978-90-04-37943-5 |editor-last=Petrovic |editor-first=Andrej |page=106 |chapter=Lectional Signs in Greek Verse Inscriptions |type=eBook |doi=10.1163/9789004379435_006 |s2cid=198732053 |editor2=Thomas |editor-first2=Edmund |editor3=Petrovic |editor-first3=Ivana}}</ref>

The modern form of the sign, with its modern meaning, has been in use since the 15th century.<ref>{{cite book |title=The history of the English paragraph |page= [https://archive.org/details/historyofenglish00lewirich/page/16/mode/1up 16] |via=Archive.org |last=Lewis |first=Edwin Herbert |date=1894 |publisher=University of Chicago}}</ref>

== <span class="anchor" id="In literaturemedia"></span> Other usages for the symbol == In Jaroslav Hašek's ''The Good Soldier Švejk'', the {{Char|§}} symbol is used repeatedly to mean "bureaucracy". In his English translation of 1930, Paul Selver translated it as "red tape".

In The Sims and SimCity video game franchises, the § symbol represents the fictional "Simoleon" in-game currency.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 29, 2025 |title=Simoleon |url=https://www.thesimswiki.com/wiki/Simoleon |url-status=live |access-date=April 15, 2026 |website=The Sims Wiki |language=en}}</ref>

== See also == * Pilcrow (¶), the historic indicator of an (un-numbered) new paragraph in English * ''Scilicet'' ("it may be known") is sometimes rendered using a § mark instead of "viz."

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{Commons category-inline}} * {{Wiktionary-inline|Section signs}}

Category:Latin-script ligatures Category:Punctuation Category:Typographical symbols