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quotation marks; quote marks (punctuation marking quoted text)
Punctuation marks used to enclose a direct quotation, dialogue, or word being referred to as a word. In Japanese this most commonly means 「 」 (single brackets) and 『 』 (double brackets); in Western-style writing it refers to " " and ' '.
In English academic papers, double quotes are normally used as quotation marks.
Compound of 引用 ('quotation; citation') and 符 ('mark; sign'). Refers to the punctuation marks themselves, not the quoted text — contrast with 引用文 ('a quotation; the quoted passage').
Japanese conventions
- 「 」 (kagi-kakko): the standard Japanese quotation marks, used for dialogue and quoted words
- 『 』 (nijuu-kagi-kakko / double angle brackets): used for quotations inside quotations, titles of books, or titles of films/albums
- " " and ' ' are used in Western-style writing, programming, and mathematical contexts
Common collocations
- 引用符を付ける: to add quotation marks
- 引用符で囲む: to enclose in quotation marks
- 引用符を閉じる: to close the quotation marks
- 引用符を開く: to open the quotation marks
- シングル引用符: single quotation marks (' ')
- ダブル引用符: double quotation marks (" ")
Similar words
- 引用: quotation; citation — the action or abstract concept
- 引用文: a quotation; the quoted text itself
- 括弧: parentheses/brackets (general term) — 引用符 is a subtype used for quotations
- 鉤括弧: the specific term for 「 」
Typographical note
In Japanese typography, quotation marks often do not include trailing spaces, and vertical writing rotates the brackets. Programming languages and data formats typically use Western " " as string delimiters, so this word also appears in tech documentation.