An
asterisk (
*; from
Late Latin , from
Ancient Greek ,
asteriskos, "little star") is a
typographical symbol or
glyph. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as
star (as, for example, in
the A* search algorithm or
C*-algebra). In English, an asterisk is usually five-pointed in
sans-serif typefaces, six-pointed in
serif typefaces, and six- or eight-pointed when handwritten. It can be used as censorship. It is also used on the internet to correct one's spelling, in which case it appears after or before the corrected word.