The
ditto mark (″) is a
typographic symbol indicating that the word(s) or figure(s) above it are to be repeated. For example:
The word
ditto comes from the
Tuscan language, where it is the past participle of the verb
dire (to say), with the meaning of “said”, as in the locution “the said story”. The first recorded use of ditto with this meaning in English occurs in 1625. Early evidence of ditto marks can be seen on a cuneiform tablet of the
Neo-Assyrian period (934 – 608 BC) where two vertical marks are used in a table of synonyms to repeat text, while in China the corresponding mark is two horizontal lines (二); see
iteration mark.