World Ampersand Day

Ampersand & and & and & and ………

September 8, 2025; posted September 16, 2025

Did you notice World Ampersand Day was more than a week ago? No worries! Although September 8th is the official day for this World celebration, such a fun & functional, curly & quirky little character, know as the “Ampersand,” deserves a party every day of the year! Don’t you agree? 

The Symbol we use today for the ampersand is more than 2,000 years old! Designed by an Ancient Roman scribe around 63 CE, it served as the shorthand version of the Latin word “et,” meaning “and.” This ingenious calligrapher created the Symbol by combining the letters “e” & “t” into a single ligature or  glyph, for the purpose of saving valuable time, space, & parchment while writing the voluminous & tediously-penned documents of the day.

Observation #1: if you refer to my drawing, top left, you’ll see how the evolution of the ampersand symbol changed over the course of a few thousand years, beginning with Figure #1, the 2,000 year old design.

Observation #2: unless the old Roman cursive “et” included exaggerated negative space before, after, and/or within,  I’m uncertain how the symbol in Fig. #1 saved space? What are your thoughts?

The Word “Ampersand” didn’t emerge until the early 19th century (1837) as the shortcut to the commonly used phrase “and per se and.” Now that phrase-to-pronunciation of “Ampersand” may seem intuitive, the eventual slurring of the four words follows a more complex explanation that’s pretty interesting.  Based upon a traditional English custom that involved spelling out loud, “any letter that could also be used as a word in itself (“A”, “I”, & “O“) was referred to by the Latin expression per se (‘by itself’), as in “per se A” or “A per se A” or “A by itself = A.”  Following that tradition of verbal spelling, the single Ampersand glyph was verbally spelled aloud like this: “and per se and,” “& per se &,” or (much more helpful) “& by itself = and.” This clarification of “& by itself” was necessary so as not to confuse the more extended forms of the “&” in use, such as “&c.” which is one of the abbreviations for the Latin phrase “et cetera,” which, of course, means “the rest.”

Today’s Stylistic Ampersand Symbols

Today, it seems there are hundreds and hundreds of unique ways of symbolizing the Ampersand. A quick internet search of font styles reveals a different twist on the symbol for each font. Can you imagine what an extensive search of fonts would uncover?! But there’s one criteria that must be met, somehow, in designing each “&” …… it must be a ligature (a combination) of the letters “e” & “t” into a single glyph (character), & if not readily recognizable, the artist must be able to demonstrate the presence of both letters, no matter how abstract. 

Used to be ……

Did you know the Ampersand used to be the last letter of the English alphabet? It’s true! The “&” was added as the 27th letter in the alphabet in the 19th century &, as such, was taught to children learning their ABCs. Primers written for ‘little folks,’ some novels, & even nursery rhymes recognized the “&” as an official character. One especially popular nursery rhyme, Apple Pie ABC¹, finishes with the lines “X, Y, Z, and ampersand, All wished for a piece in hand.”  But sometimes good things come to an end. By the late 19th century, the “&” was accepted as a ligature it truly is, rather than a letter, & lost its place in the alphabet.

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Celebrate every day by having fun with the Ampersand:

• Use lots & lots of ampersands!
• Substitute “&” for “and” in everything you write
• Think of syllable replacements in words such as:  &roid, c&elabra, b&
• Send friends whose names contain “and” a special note — &y, &rea, Alex&er, Br&don, Gr&ma
• Design new styles of ampersands being sure they represent the letters “et”
• Count the number of ampersands in my drawing²

Well, Flambé doesn’t know about you, but she certainly had lots of fun learning about the Ampersand, & is kicking-off a campaign to have it restored as the 27th letter of the alphabet. After all, we lost Pluto as the 9th planet in the solar system, the Ampersand has almost been around as long as Pluto, & most importantly the “&” has the shape of her long lost best cat friend & lover, Cognac, who’s been on a planetary exploration for years, and has probably reached Pluto by now.  Kat says, “Let’s bring back the Ampersand! All in favor, say, “and & and & and & and …..!’”     

As always thanks for stopping by, & for voting because Flambé believes all voices must be heard on the issue of the deported Ampersand.

¹“ApplePie ABC” is a simple rhyme written to teach children the order of the alphabet by relating the various ways children react to an apple pie. After the first line, A was an apple pie, the rest of the letters refer to verbs.

“A was an Apple pie; B bit it; C cut it; D dealt it; E eat it; F fought for it; G got it; H had it; J joined it; K kept it; L longed for it; M mourned for it; N nodded at it; O opened it; P peeped in it; Q quartered it; R ran for it; S stole it; T took it; V viewed it; W wanted it; X, Y, Z, and &, All wished for a piece in hand”. 

Note the absence of two letters; the vowels I & U. When the rhyme was originally written (sometime in the 18th century), there was no differentiation between the capital letters I & J, & between U & V. But in 19th century versions, when the I & U were accepted as distinct letters, the rhyme was updated to include these two lines: 

“I inspected it” & “U upset it.”

² Spoiler Alert: Flambé & I each counted twice & agree …. you should come up with a total of 29 Ampersands in my drawing. If you also agree, Bravo! If you found fewer than 29, try again! If you found more than 29, send a message PDQ, letting us know how many there actually are & that we must’ve been sniffing too much catnip to count higher than 29! Then I’ll have Kat begin the scavenger hunt anew!

Zentangle patterns: Spanders, Footlites, Diver, Lewe, Fifolia, Sprave, Qurtuba, Cloudy Day, Fission, Icantoo, Marbles, Soutache, Strutz, RowRow, Ping, FITA (Flies in the Air), Ease, Antique, Barberpole, ArcFlower, & Arrow Tree