The interrobang (‽) is a question mark and an exclamation mark drawn as one character on a shared dot, for a question asked in surprise or disbelief. Martin K. Speckter, who ran a New York advertising agency, proposed it in the March–April 1962 issue of Type Talks, the typography magazine he edited (Houston, 2011a). A typeface carried it by 1966 and typewriter keys by 1968; then it faded, and it lives on as Unicode character U+203D.
EdCitation publishes this guide, with every date taken from the source that records it, read on 2 October 2026. We found no copy of Speckter's article online, so its contents come from the writer Keith Houston, who quotes it, and from the dictionaries. Our own view: the interrobang is a joy to know about and a mark to leave out of an assignment.
EdCitation never writes any part of anyone's work, and we hold that line with pride: every sentence you hand in stays yours. It checks instead. Find sources found 215 works on the interrobang, Cite a source builds the references, and Mechanics QA checks a finished paper's formatting and the slips a spell-checker lets through.
What is an interrobang?
An interrobang is a single mark that does the job of ?!: it ends a question that is also an exclamation. Merriam-Webster (n.d.) defines it as a mark for the end of an exclamatory rhetorical question. Speckter meant it for incredulity; his obituary offered "You call that a hat" as the kind of sentence it was made for ("Martin K. Speckter, 73," 1988).
Where the name comes from
Interro comes from "interrogation point", a technical name for the question mark, and bang is printers' slang for the exclamation mark (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). The Oxford English Dictionary finds its earliest evidence in Type Talks in 1962 and gives the British pronunciation as in-TERR-uh-bang (Oxford University Press, n.d.).
How it differs from the two marks typed together
?!or!?: the two marks together, typed one after the other.- ‽ (U+203D): the interrobang, one character with both shapes overlaid.
- ⁈ (U+2048) and ⁉ (U+2049): characters Unicode files under double punctuation for vertical text, added in version 3.0 (Unicode Consortium, 2026a, 2026b).
- ⸘ (U+2E18): the inverted interrobang, added in version 5.1, whose chart entry gives the alternative name gnaborretni, interrobang spelt backwards (Unicode Consortium, 2026a, 2026c).
Who invented the interrobang?
Martin K. Speckter did, in 1962. His New York Times obituary, read in an archived copy, says his firm handled promotion for The Wall Street Journal and Barron's from 1956 to 1969, that he edited TYPEtalks from 1959 to 1968, and that he died in February 1988, aged 73 ("Martin K. Speckter, 73," 1988).
What the 1962 article proposed
Houston (2011a) gives the article's title as "Making a new point, or, how about that…". Speckter argued that ending a line with both marks was an untidy makeshift, and that one mark could carry surprise and doubt at once: did Columbus shout on sighting land, or ask? The agency's art director, Jack Lipton, drew trial shapes, and Speckter offered two names, exclamaquest and interrobang. Penny Speckter later recalled the idea coming over dinner, with four pages of the issue still to fill; that is her memory, as Houston (2024) retells it, not a 1962 record.
How 1962 reacted
The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial on the mark on 6 April 1962 (Houston, 2011a; Interrobang-MKS, n.d.). A New York Herald Tribune column by Joseph Kaselow praised it but appeared on 1 April, and Houston reports that the date raised doubts about whether the mark was real. Whether readers took it for a prank is not recorded, so treat that story as unconfirmed. Readers sent rival names, such as exclarogative and consternation mark, but the newspapers had already chosen interrobang.
Which typefaces and typewriters carried the interrobang?
One metal typeface and two makes of typewriter.
Americana, the first typeface with one
Richard Isbell's Americana, cast in metal by American Type Founders (ATF), was the first typeface to include the mark (Museum of Printing, 2010). Most sources date it to 1966; the page for URW's digital Americana says 1967 (MyFonts, n.d.). Time reported it in July 1967 under ATF's spelling, "interabang", with ATF's plan to include it in every new type it cut ("Language: New Punctuation Mark," 1967). Americana turned out to be ATF's last metal typeface (Houston, 2011a).
Who prompted Isbell is disputed: Time said he added it casually, a 1968 trade paper said Speckter lobbied ATF for five years, and Penny Speckter told Houston it was unprompted (Houston, 2011a).
Remington Rand and Smith-Corona
In September 1968 The Wall Street Journal reported that Remington Rand offered the interrobang as a special type for its Model 25 electric typewriters (Houston, 2011a). Kenneth Wright designed that version, and a 1969 Smith-Corona brochure offered an interchangeable interrobang key (Houston, 2011b).
Interrobang history: a timeline with sources
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| March–April 1962 | Speckter proposes the mark in Type Talks; Jack Lipton draws designs | Houston (2011a); Oxford University Press (n.d.) |
| 1966 (1967 on one font page) | Americana, by Richard Isbell for ATF, the first typeface with it | Museum of Printing (2010); MyFonts (n.d.) |
| 21 July 1967 | Time reports the "interabang" | "Language: New Punctuation Mark" (1967) |
| September 1968 | Remington Rand offers it for Model 25 electric typewriters | Houston (2011a) |
| 1991 | Unicode 1.0 prints the mark at 203D | Unicode Consortium (1991) |
| 13 June 2012 | A federal appeals court opinion ends a sentence with ‽ | Robert F. Booth Trust v. Crowley (2012) |
| 2 October 2026 | One search returns 215 works on the mark | Find sources, our run |
What is the interrobang's Unicode code point?
The interrobang is U+203D, named INTERROBANG, in the General Punctuation block (2000–206F). Its chart entry points to the inverted interrobang and to a heavy interrobang ornament, U+1F679, added in version 7.0 (Unicode Consortium, 2026a, 2026b).
It has been in Unicode from the start. Unicode's record of when characters arrived lists U+203D in version 1.1, of 1993, the earliest version that record tracks (Unicode Consortium, n.d., 2026a), and the chart printed in version 1.0, in 1991, already shows it at 203D, on page 145 (Unicode Consortium, 1991).
How do you type an interrobang?
Type its code, or pick it from your system's character list.
- Word for Windows: type 203D and press Alt+X; after letters or digits, type U+203D, which Microsoft says stops Alt+X reading the wrong code (Microsoft, n.d.).
- Elsewhere in Windows: open Character Map, choose a font that has the mark, then select and copy it (Microsoft, n.d.). The Museum of Printing (2010) names Lucida Sans Unicode, Arial Unicode MS and Wingdings 2 as fonts with it.
- Mac: press Fn or the Globe key with E, or choose Edit > Emoji & Symbols, to open the Character Viewer; search for the mark, click it, and add it to Favourites (Apple, n.d.).
- Linux with GNOME: press Ctrl+Shift+U, type 203d, then press Space or Enter (GNOME, n.d.).
- LaTeX: use
\textinterrobang, which LaTeX's font guide lists among symbols many fonts lack (LaTeX Project Team, 2025). - Before you submit: look at the mark in your PDF. It shows only in a font that contains it.
Why did the interrobang not catch on?
It never became ordinary: the OED puts the word at fewer than 0.01 occurrences per million words in modern written English (Oxford University Press, n.d.). Why is argued, and each reason below is its writer's view.
The machines left no room
Houston (2011b) blames the printing trade. A Linotype machine held only 90 characters, so an interrobang meant evicting a character printers already used, and foundries kept the old one. He adds a six-year wait before writers and printers could both use it, the inertia of punctuation habits, and doubt that a new mark was needed.
The two marks together already did the job
Houston (2024) argues that the mark was impractical for writers, almost impossible for printers and barely better than typing both marks, and that no designer has drawn a version everyone accepts. Merriam-Webster (n.d.) sees a loop: the mark is rare in print because keyboards lack it, and keyboards lack it because it is rare in print. Rosinsky (2022) traces its absence from most fonts to low demand, and a type designer told her it renders poorly in bold and can "blot up" even in text weights.
A judge who used one
Chief Judge Easterbrook of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ended a sentence "with certainty‽" on page 8 of the slip opinion in Robert F. Booth Trust v. Crowley (2012), decided on 13 June 2012; we read the court's PDF. CourtListener's text of the opinion has an exclamation mark there: the mark is easily lost in copying.
Can you use a question mark and exclamation mark together in academic writing?
No guide we could read recommends it. In an essay, end a sentence with one mark, usually the question mark, or put the surprise in the words.
| Guide or tool | What it says or does | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago, 18th edition | Its Q&A says Chicago style "frowns on" the pair and that the Manual omits the interrobang; section 6.135, on the pair, is for subscribers and we could not read it | University of Chicago Press (n.d.-a, n.d.-b, 2024) |
| University of Oxford style guide | One end mark per sentence, and only one; a title's own question or exclamation mark stays | University of Oxford (n.d.) |
| APA 7 | The marks its website says the Manual covers do not include the exclamation point; in a reference, a title's own question mark or exclamation point replaces the full stop | American Psychological Association (n.d.-b, n.d.-c) |
Two things are not yours to change: a quotation keeps the original's punctuation, interrobang included, and a reference keeps a title's own question mark or exclamation point, as APA says; we would keep a title's ‽ as printed too. Capitals in such titles are covered in title case or sentence case.
How do you cite the interrobang's history in an essay?
Cite what you used, and check the entry against your style. On 2 October 2026 we gave Cite a source the OED entry's DOI, 10.1093/oed/1036363852. It read the publisher's record and returned, in APA 7:
Oxford University Press. (2023). interrobang, n. In Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). https://doi.org/10.1093/oed/1036363852
The year is the record's; the OED says its entry was first published in 2020. APA's online dictionary examples capitalise the entry's first word, put the dictionary's title in sentence case, give no edition, and use n.d. with a retrieval date because those entries change and are not archived (American Psychological Association, n.d.-a). Corrected by hand:
Oxford University Press. (n.d.). Interrobang, n. In Oxford English dictionary. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://doi.org/10.1093/oed/1036363852
Then paste the list into Verify references, free: each reference comes back verified, "check this" or not found, and one it could not check is never shown as not found.
How does EdCitation help with a paper on punctuation?
EdCitation is, in our view, the best partner for the checking half of a paper, because it works from records and rules and writes nothing: no chatbot can look a reference up in the publisher's record, as Cite a source did with the OED entry above. Choosing ?! is a writer's judgement; a comment left in the file is a slip, and slips are what a rule-by-rule check is for.
Mechanics QA, for the last read
Mechanics QA gives a paper the first read a marker gives it, rule by rule. It checks font, spacing, margins, title page, headings and reference list against the APA 7 student paper; finds comments, tracked changes, placeholders and template text left in the file; matches each citation to the list and looks each reference up in the publisher's record; flags figures that do not add up or disagree between sections; and catches the slips a spell-checker lets through. No model reads your paper, and every finding names the rule and the fix. It is part of Pro, $8 a month, and a free account can run it three times a month (Pricing).
Find sources and Check your paper, free
Find sources searches about 300 million published works; for "interrobang" it returned 215, led by Keith Houston's Shady Characters: Ampersands, Interrobangs and other Typographical Curiosities. Check your paper reads your brief into a free checklist of word limits, headings, sources, style, font and spacing. For neighbouring marks, see a history of the em dash and the semicolon's history.
Quick questions
Who invented the interrobang?
Martin K. Speckter, a New York advertising executive, proposed it in Type Talks in 1962.
How do I type an interrobang?
In Word for Windows, type 203D and press Alt+X. On a Mac, search the Character Viewer (Fn or Globe and E).
What is the interrobang's Unicode code point?
U+203D, in the General Punctuation block.
Can I use an interrobang in an academic essay?
Better not: Chicago's editors frown on the pair, and Oxford's style guide allows one end mark per sentence.
Does EdCitation correct my punctuation?
No: EdCitation never writes or rewrites your work. Mechanics QA, in Pro, marks formatting and spell-checker slips with their fixes, and you make the change.
References
- American Psychological Association. (n.d.-a). Dictionary entry references. APA Style. Retrieved 2 October 2026, from https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/dictionary-entry-references
- American Psychological Association. (n.d.-b). Elements of reference list entries. APA Style. Retrieved 2 October 2026, from https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/elements-list-entry
- American Psychological Association. (n.d.-c). Punctuation. APA Style. Retrieved 2 October 2026, from https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/punctuation
- Apple. (n.d.). Use emoji and symbols on Mac. Mac User Guide. Retrieved 2 October 2026, from https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchlp1560/mac
- GNOME. (n.d.). Enter special characters. GNOME Help. Retrieved 2 October 2026, from https://help.gnome.org/gnome-help/tips-specialchars.html
- Houston, K. (2011a, April 2). The interrobang, part 1 of 2. Shady Characters. https://shadycharacters.co.uk/2011/04/the-interrobang-part-1/
- Houston, K. (2011b, April 17). The interrobang, part 2 of 2. Shady Characters. https://shadycharacters.co.uk/2011/04/the-interrobang-part-2/
- Houston, K. (2024, January 4). Shady Characters at MacGuffin magazine: Interrobang
!. Shady Characters. https://shadycharacters.co.uk/2024/01/macguffin-interrobang/ - Interrobang-MKS. (n.d.). Welcome to Interrobang-Mks. Retrieved 2 October 2026, from https://www.interrobang-mks.com/
- Language: New punctuation mark. (1967, July 21). Time. https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,941558,00.html
- LaTeX Project Team. (2025). LaTeX2ε font selection. CTAN. https://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/base/fntguide.pdf
- Martin K. Speckter, 73, creator of interrobang. (1988, February 16). The New York Times. Archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/20160309021332/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/16/obituaries/martin-k-speckter-73-creator-of-interrobang.html
- Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Interrobang. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved 2 October 2026, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interrobang
- Microsoft. (n.d.). Insert ASCII or Unicode Latin-based symbols and characters. Microsoft Support. Retrieved 2 October 2026, from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/word/insert-ascii-or-unicode-latin-based-symbols-and-characters
- Museum of Printing. (2010). From ampersands to interrobangs. The Galley, Fall 2010, 10. https://museumofprinting.org/pdfs/MoPFall2010.pdf
- MyFonts. (n.d.). Americana [URW Type Foundry]. Retrieved 2 October 2026, from https://www.myfonts.com/collections/americana-font-urw
- Oxford University Press. (n.d.). Interrobang, n. In Oxford English dictionary. Retrieved 2 October 2026, from https://doi.org/10.1093/oed/1036363852
- Robert F. Booth Trust v. Crowley, 687 F.3d 314 (7th Cir. 2012). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/802157/robert-f-booth-trust-ex-rel-sears-holding-corp-v-crowley/
- Rosinsky, S. (2022, July 3). The interrobang is 60
?!. CreativePro. https://creativepro.com/the-interrobang-is-60/ - Unicode Consortium. (n.d.). Enumerated versions of the Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2 October 2026, from https://www.unicode.org/versions/enumeratedversions.html
- Unicode Consortium. (1991). The Unicode standard: Worldwide character encoding, version 1.0 (Vol. 1). Addison-Wesley. https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode1.0.0/
- Unicode Consortium. (2026a). DerivedAge-18.0.0.txt [Data set]. Unicode Character Database. https://www.unicode.org/Public/UCD/latest/ucd/DerivedAge.txt
- Unicode Consortium. (2026b). General punctuation: Range 2000–206F [Code chart]. The Unicode Standard, Version 18.0. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2000.pdf
- Unicode Consortium. (2026c). Supplemental punctuation: Range 2E00–2E7F [Code chart]. The Unicode Standard, Version 18.0. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2E00.pdf
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-a). Punctuation: Combining a question mark and an exclamation point [Q&A]. The Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Punctuation/faq0013.html
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-b). Punctuation: The interrobang [Q&A]. The Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Punctuation/faq0057.html
- University of Chicago Press. (2024). The Chicago manual of style (18th ed.), chapter 6 contents. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/book/ed18/part2/ch06/toc.html
- University of Oxford. (n.d.). Punctuation. University of Oxford style guide. Retrieved 2 October 2026, from https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/the-university/brand/style-guide/punctuation