Vertical Ellipsis Presentation Form

It marks an omission, a pause, or a thought trailing off.

In vertical writing, ︙ gives the three-dot ellipsis an upright form. The punctuation idea is older than this particular character: Chinese writing had earlier punctuation and omission practices, and China's first government-approved proposal for modern punctuation included an ellipsis in 1920. Japanese print punctuation standardized gradually through the Meiji and Taishō eras under European influence.

Should I use ︙ or …?

For vertical text, prefer … when layout can shape it.

In East Asian vertical typesetting, layout can turn the ordinary ellipsis … upright. ︙ is a compatibility form for older or limited systems that cannot make that substitution; it stores the vertical shape directly. The two are related punctuation forms, but ︙ is not the default input for vertical text.

When someone sends ︙, read it as an ellipsis: omitted text, a pause, or a thought trailing off. Its upright shape comes from the layout; the surrounding words set the tone. Use ⋮ for omitted rows or columns in mathematical notation; ⁝ is a separate tricolon used in other punctuation traditions.

How do I type ︙?

Use a Unicode input tool for this exact form.

Most keyboards have no dedicated key for ︙. Enter FE19 in a Unicode-entry tool; the exact shortcut depends on the operating system.

For ordinary vertical prose, type … and let the text layout choose its upright glyph. Enter ︙ directly only when a legacy or limited renderer needs the vertical form encoded in the text.