Ready Reference Files

Number Sign #

The symbol # is commonly referred to as the "number sign", "pound sign," or "tic-tac-toe". There is no established, context-free term according to National Public Radio. "Gridlet" and "octothorp" have been suggested.

The Pasadena Star-News reported October 20, 1981, p. A-3, "According to the folks at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, a rumor started in the 1960's or earlier ... that this symbol is called an octothorpe. One story has it that the rumor was started ... by one Charles B. Octothorpe." In another Star-News article on November 3, 1982, p. B-4, the word is written without the final e and refers to John B. Octothorp. The first Star-News article quotes Oscar Mandel, an English professor at Caltech, "A non-word becomes a word when 310,583 people use it."

William Sherk in 500 Years of New Words, p. 272, has the following entry: "Octothorn, The number sign (#); so called because there are eight points, or thorns, sticking out of it ... ."

Regarding the origin of the # symbol, Keith Gordon Irwin in, The Romance of Writing, p. 125 says: "The Italian libbra (from the old Latin word libra, "balance") represented a weight almost exactly equal to the avoirdupois pound of England. The Italian abbreviation of lb with a line drawn across the letters was ... used for both weights. The business clerk's hurried way of writing the abbreviation appears to have been responsible for the # sign used for pound.

Source: Judy Herman. Scannings, Nov/Dec 1986

Verified by: SY, 9/98

Disclaimer:
While the Library has verified the information presented in these files in what it considers to be reliable and authoritative sources, it cannot take responsibility for nor guarantee the accuracy of the information presented.