The Meaning of “~” in Definitions

Question

The symbol “~” appears in many definitions. What does it mean? Examples:

2   纯；专：专～。～心～意。

1   头的前部，脸：脸～。颜～。～目。～～相觑。

2   旧时指读书人：～子。～民。学～。

UPDATE: And, what does it mean when there are two consecutive swung dashes? Such as in: “～～相觑。”

it stands for repeated head word in dictionary entries, see dictionary's "Guide to the Use of the Dictionary": "~ represents the word of each entry" — user6065, Jun 12 '19 at 15:37
note ～ represents the head word, which need not be a single character, e.g.气量，。。。他～大，他～小，混～合（＝混合）。。。～饲料（＝混合饲料） — user6065, Jun 12 '19 at 17:56

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 17 '20 at 09:50

3

The use of this swung dash means the entry character or word is used in the corresponding words.

2 旧时指读书人：～子。～民。学～。

... is equivalent to:

2 In olden times, refers to educated people. 士子。士民。学士。

This is a common typographical convention, used in many dictionaries globally, including in English.

EDIT: for reduplication or for other forms of repeat of the entry, the swung dash is often repeated, viz for 面

~ ~ 相觑

... is equivalent to

面面相觑.

edited Jun 17 '20 at 09:50

Community

answered Jun 12 '19 at 15:36

Michaelyus

Thanks. What about when there are two consecutive swung dashes. Such as in: 头的前部，脸：脸～。颜～。～目。～～相觑。 – Xa1 Jun 12 '19 at 16:07
1

how about ＂each instance of ～represents one instance of head word of entry＂ ? e.g. 面，。。。。。，～～相觑＝面面相觑 – user6065 Jun 12 '19 at 17:34
@user6065 Good point; have edited my answer. – Michaelyus Jun 13 '19 at 08:20

1 Answers1