The Ampersand: From ligature to modern symbol

What is the ampersand?

The ampersand, written as &, is a symbol that represents the word "and". It began as a ligature—a single character formed by combining the letters E and T from the Latin word et, which means "and." Over centuries, scribes stylized the ligature into the distinct character we recognize today.

A brief history of the ampersand

The ampersand's roots go back to ancient Roman and medieval handwriting. The earliest known et ligature appears in ancient manuscripts, and by the 1st to 3rd centuries, scribes in Europe were shaping and refining the character. By the 17th century, type designers had standardized forms, and the current ampersand evolved into many fonts with varying stylistic takes, from elegant swashes to compact glyphs. The name "ampersand" comes from the phrase "and per se, and"—children were told that the symbol stood for the word "and" when reciting the alphabet.

How the ampersand is used today

Today, the ampersand is common in brand names, creative writing, and where space is at a premium. It appears in logos, product names, and signage. In formal prose, many style guides prefer spelling out "and" except in cases like company names or where the ampersand is part of a trademark. Typography lovers pay attention to how the ampersand pairs with surrounding letters in different fonts and weights.

Ampersands in computing and encoding

In computing and the web, the ampersand has a special role. In URLs, it often separates query parameters, so it is percent-encoded as %26 when needed. In HTML, the ampersand begins character entities such as & for the literal ampersand. In programming and regular expressions, the ampersand can have special meanings, depending on the language.

Fun facts about the ampersand

• The ampersand is one of the oldest widely used symbols in the Latin alphabet family.
• There are hundreds of typographic variants across fonts.
• Some designers see the ampersand as a playful stamp of personality in branding.