&

 

English Wikipedia has an article on:

&

Wikipedia

 

There is a great deal of variation in this character; fonts often make it distinctive as an identifying feature of the font. Common variants include ⟨🙵⟩ and ⟨🙰⟩.

Apart from the CJK variants, additional Unicode characters are intended for backward compatibility with Wingdings fonts.

A stylized form of Latin et (“and”). Romans used such symbols (ligatures) from at least the first century C.E., but the character may not have acquired its present form until the advent of calligraphy in the Middle Ages. Compare ⁊ and +, of same meaning and similar derivation.

& (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of and.

   Synonym: ⁊

& (English symbol name ampersand)

1. (programming) Used in some programming languages for different purposes.
   1. Used to dereference memory address.
   2. Used to represent the binary operator and.

      1 & 0 = 0

2. (networking) In a URL, separates each field-value pair of a query string.

   https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day&action=view&useskin=monobook

3. (Internet slang, subculture) Used to represent multiplicity.

• (mathematics) ⅋
• & ;
• v&
• &c.

•  
  The roman-typeface ampersand at left is stylized, but the italic one at right reveals its origin in the Latin word et.
•  
  An ampersand handwritten as an 'E' with a vertical stroke
•  
  A handwritten ampersand with the vertical stroke merged into the ends of the 'E'

• ϗ
• (Latin script):  Aa  Bb  Cc  Dd  Ee  Ff  Gg  Hh  Ii  Jj  Kk  Ll  Mm  Nn  Oo  Pp  Qq  Rr  Sſs  Tt  Uu  Vv  Ww  Xx  Yy  Zz
• (Variations of letter E):  Éé  Èè  Êê  Ḙḙ  Ěě  Ĕĕ  Ẽẽ  Ḛḛ  Ẻẻ  Ėė  Ëë  Ēē  Ȩȩ  Ęę  ᶒ  Ɇɇ  Ȅȅ  Ếế  Ềề  Ễễ  Ểể  Ḝḝ  Ḗḗ  Ḕḕ  Ȇȇ  Ẹẹ  Ệệ  ⱸ  ᴇ  Ｅｅ  Ææ  Ǽǽ  Ǣǣ  &  Œœ  ᵫ
• (Letter combinations):  Ꜳꜳ  Ææ  ᴁᴭ  Ǽǽ  Ǣǣ  Ꜵꜵ  Åå  Ꜷꜷ  Ꜹꜹ  Ꜻꜻ  Ꜽꜽ  ct  ȸ  DZDzdz  DŽDždž  ᴂᵆ  ᴔ  &  ff  fi  ffi  fl  ffl  ℔  IJij  LJLjlj  Ỻỻ  Ŋŋ  NJNjnj  Œœ  ɶ  Ꝏꝏ  Ȣȣᴕ  ȹ  ẞß  ſtst  ᵫ  Ůů  Ww  Ꝡꝡ

Orthographic borrowing from Latin &

& (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of and.
   • 2011, David Almond, The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean, Candlewick Press, published 2014, →ISBN, page 121:

     “Welcum to McCaufreys, Billy Dean” he says. “Make yorself at home & hav a pie.”

2. (dated) Abbreviation of et.

& (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of i.

& (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of kaj.

• IPA^(key): /e/

• Audio; “et commercial”:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland):

  (file)

& (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of et.

& (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of e and ed.
2. (dated) Abbreviation of et.

&(アンド) • (ando)  (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of アンド.

& (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of et.

• &̄ (etiam)

• -&

& (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of e.

& (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of y and e.

& (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of och.

   Synonym: o̲