tilde

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish tilde, from Latin titulus (“superscript”) or from tildar. Doublet of titer/titre, title, titlo, tittle, and titulus.

noun

1. The grapheme of character ~.
   1. A diacritical mark (˜) placed above a letter to modify its pronunciation, such as by palatalization in Spanish words or nasalization in Portuguese words.
      The tilde was used similarly in Portuguese on vowels to show that the letter bearing the tilde should be pronounced nasally. 2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 162
   2. A punctuation mark that indicates range (from a number to another number).
   3. May be used to represent approximation (mathematics).
2. (logic) The character used to represent negation, usually ~ or ¬.