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prettygoodwordguillemet (GIL-uh-met, Fr. geeuh-MAY) - n., either of the marks « or » used as quotation marks in several languages.
Most notably French, which is where we got the name for them, but several others do as well. Most languages, the guillemets point outwards «like this», but some (most of which have transitioned to some form of "-style quotation marks) formerly pointed them inward »like this«. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean all use 《taller forms》 that show up better in their all-full-height character writing systems. The name is a diminutive form of Guillaume, the French cognate of William, named after French typecutter Guillaume Le Bé (1525–1598) who supposedly invented the marks, though in fact they first appeared in a book printed when he was two years old, so, yeah no.
---L.
Most notably French, which is where we got the name for them, but several others do as well. Most languages, the guillemets point outwards «like this», but some (most of which have transitioned to some form of "-style quotation marks) formerly pointed them inward »like this«. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean all use 《taller forms》 that show up better in their all-full-height character writing systems. The name is a diminutive form of Guillaume, the French cognate of William, named after French typecutter Guillaume Le Bé (1525–1598) who supposedly invented the marks, though in fact they first appeared in a book printed when he was two years old, so, yeah no.
---L.
