typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), and ...

, a dinkus is a typographic symbol which often consists of three spaced

asterisk The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

s in a horizontal row, i.e. ∗∗∗ . The symbol has a variety of uses, and it usually denotes an intentional omission or a logical "break" of varying degree in a written work. This latter use is similar to a subsection, and it indicates to the reader that the subsequent text should be re-contextualized. When used this way, the dinkus typically appears centrally aligned on a line of its own with vertical spacing before and after the symbol. The dinkus has been in use in various forms since . Historically, the dinkus was often represented as an asterism, , though this use has fallen out of favor and is now nearly obsolete.Radim Peško, Louis Lüthi (2007). ''Dot Dot Dot 13'', p. 193. Stuart Bailey, Peter Bilak, eds. .

Usage

The dinkus is used for various purposes, but many of them are related to an intentional break in the flow of the text.

Subsection break

A dinkus can be used to accentuate a break between subsections of a single overarching section. When an author chooses to use a dinkus to divide a larger section, the intent is to maintain an overall sense of continuity within the overall chapter or section while changing elements of the setting or timeline.''Orthotypographie'' by Jean-Pierre Lacroux. For instance, when the writer is introducing a flashback or other jarring scene change, a dinkus can help denote the change in setting within the overall theme of the chapter; in that case, it can be preferable to the initiation of a new chapter. This technique is used especially in

literary fiction Literary fiction, mainstream fiction, non-genre fiction or serious fiction is a label that, in the book trade, refers to market novels that do not fit neatly into an established genre (see genre fiction); or, otherwise, refers to novels that are ch ...

.''The Australian Editing Handbook'', By Elizabeth Flann, Beryl Hill, Lan Wang. 2014.

Intentionally omitted information

Many applications of the dinkus, including those that were common historically, have indicated intentional omission of information.''A comprehensive system of grammatical and rhetorical punctuation'' by Consul Willshire Butterford. 1858. Page 37, page 40. Published by Cincinnati: Longley Brothers. In these cases, the dinkus is used to inform the reader that the information has been omitted.''Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks'' by Keith Houston. 2013 It can also be used to mean "

untitled Untitled or (Untitled) may refer to: Artworks * '' Untitled (2004)'', by Banksy * ''Untitled'' (1982 painting), by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat * ''Untitled'' (Devil), a 1982 painting by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat * ''Untitled ...

" or that the author or title was withheld. This is evident, for example, in some editions of ''

Album for the Young ''Album for the Young'' ('), Op. 68, was composed by Robert Schumann in 1848 for his three daughters. The album consists of a collection of 43 short works. Unlike the ', they are suitable to be played by children or beginners. The second part, st ...

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Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

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№ The numero sign or numero symbol, №, (also represented as Nº, No, No. or no.), is a typographic abbreviation of the word ''number''(''s'') indicating ordinal numeration, especially in names and titles. For example, using the numero sign, t ...

21, 26, and 30). A dinkus can also be used in any context as a simple means of abbreviation of any text. The dinkus is also used specifically in this capacity within the sphere of

lawmaking Lawmaking is the process of crafting legislation. In its purest sense, it is the basis of governance. This form of law making is also applied in India. It is a process which works in India on the basis of the Constitution of India. Lawmaking i ...

, particularly for

city ordinance A local ordinance is a law issued by a local government. such as a municipality, county, parish, prefecture, or the like. China In Hong Kong, all laws enacted by the territory's Legislative Council remain to be known as ''Ordinances'' () af ...

s. When used in legal text, the dinkus indicates an abbreviation within amendments to code while not implying the

repeal A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...

of the omitted sections.

Ornamentation

Newspapers, magazines, and other works can use dinkuses as simple ornamentation of typography, for solely aesthetic reasons. When a dinkus is used primarily for aesthetic purposes, it often takes the form of a fleuron, e.g. ❧, or sometimes a

dingbat In typography, a dingbat (sometimes more formally known as a printer's ornament or printer's character) is an ornament, specifically, a glyph used in typesetting, often employed to create box frames, (similar to box-drawing characters) or a ...

. While fleurons, dingbats, and dinkuses are usually distinct, their uses can overlap.

Poetic symbolism

In some cases, the use of a dinkus has been employed in poetry in order to convey non-verbal meaning. This is exemplified in the poem ''Thresholes'' by Lara Mimosa Montes, in which the poet makes frequent use of a circular dinkus, ○ , as a form of "punctuation at the level of the full text, rather than the phrase or the sentence" throughout the course of the work.

Variations

Many variations of dinkuses are composed partially or entirely of asterisks, although other symbols can be used to achieve the same goals. Some examples include a series of dots, fleurons, asterisms, straight horizontal lines, and various other figures, such as

infinity symbol The infinity symbol (\infty) is a mathematical symbol representing the concept of infinity. This symbol is also called a lemniscate, after the lemniscate curves of a similar shape studied in algebraic geometry, or "lazy eight", in the terminol ...

Gallery

Other uses of the term "dinkus"

Among older

Hungarian American Hungarian Americans ( Hungarian: ''amerikai magyarok'') are Americans of Hungarian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau has estimated that there are approximately 1.396 million Americans of Hungarian descent as of 2018. The total number of people wit ...

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Polish American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.83 ...

s, ''dinkus'' is an archaic term for

Easter Monday Easter Monday refers to the day after Easter Sunday in either the Eastern or Western Christian traditions. It is a public holiday in some countries. It is the second day of Eastertide. In Western Christianity, it marks the second day of the Octa ...

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Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Engli ...

, particularly in the

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and th ...

, the word "dinkus" refers to a small photograph of the author of a news article. Outside of Australia, this is often referred to as a

headshot A head shot or headshot is a modern (usually digital) portrait in which the focus is on the person. The term is applied usually for professional profile images on social media, images used on online dating profiles, the 'about us page' of a cor ...