What Is S Octothorpe?

The official name of the number sign, the one located at the bottom right hand corner of phone keypads and used to label hashtags on social media, is octothorpe. Also called a hash or a pound sign, the symbol has roots in 14th century Latin.

What is the hashtag symbol called?

The technical term for a hashtag is “octothorp,” according to the OED; octo, in reference to the eight points in the figure, and Thorpe, OED says cryptically, from “the surname Thorpe.” Whatever that means.

Why is it called pound sign?

What is the # symbol called? 1: The pound sign. This name came to be because the symbol comes from the abbreviation for weight, lb, or libra pondo, literally “pound by weight,” in Latin. When writing “lb,” scribes often crossed the letters with a line across the top, like a t.