Ampersand
ampersand (U+0026) or epershand: logogram based on a ligature representing the conjunction word “and”, based on the ligature of Latin small letters “e” and “t”
The ampersand, also known as the and sign, is the logogram &, representing the conjunction "and". It originated as a ligature of the word et (Latin for 'and').
Etymology
Ampersand: the sign & the name being a corruption of 'and per se = and'; i.e. '& by itself = and'. The sign derives from the scribes' ligature for the Latin: et in certain italic versions, the letters e and t are clearly distinguishable.
Traditionally in English, when spelling aloud, any letter that could also be used as a word in itself ("A", "I", and "O") was referred to by the Latin expression per se (by itself), as in "per se A" or "A per se A". The character &, when used by itself as opposed to more extended forms such as &c., was similarly referred to as "and per se and". This last phrase was routinely slurred to "ampersand", and the term had entered common English usage by 1837.
It has been falsely claimed that André-Marie Ampère used the symbol in his widely read publications and that people began calling the new shape "Ampère's and".
History
The ampersand can be traced back to the 1st century CE and the old Roman cursive, in which the letters E and T occasionally were written together to form a ligature (Evolution of the ampersand – figure 1).
“Ampersand” enters the record as ampersand (U+0026) or epershand: logogram based on a ligature representing the conjunction word “and”, based on the ligature of Latin small letters “e” and “t”. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ampersand, ampersand and epershand can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Ampersand” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Ampersand, ampersand and epershand provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11213. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1837.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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This entry incorporates text from “Ampersand” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.