‘ ’

A British substitute for « », which were not widely available in metal type when quotation marks were introduced from France.

‘ ’

1. Encloses a quotation in some languages.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:‘ ’.

• “ ”

‘ ’

1. Encloses a quotation, title, ironic comment (scare quotes), nickname, gloss, or the mention of a word (e.g. ‘cheese’ derives from Old English ċīese.).

   See " " for a fuller list of usage.

For simple quotations, are used in Britain while “ ” are used in the United States. With nested quotations, British usage tends to be ‘ ’ for the outer set of marks and “ ” for the inner (embedded) quotation or mention, while American usage is the opposite, though there is variation in British usage. Regardless, usage switches back and forth between single and double quotation marks if there is further embedding.

With multi-paragraph quotations, the opening mark is used for each paragraph, but the closing mark only for the final paragraph.

Words, titles and sometimes quoted passages may be set in italic typeface rather than set off with quotation marks.

‘ ’

1. (Mainland China, horizontal writing) Encloses an embedded (inner) quotation. The outer quotation is enclosed with “ ”.

With vertical text, 「 」 is used.

In Taiwan, 『 』 is used for both vertical and horizontal text.

‘ ’

1. Encloses an embedded (inner) quotation.

The languages of India, including Modern Standard Hindi and Modern Standard Urdu, follow the American-English convention of “ ” for a simple or embedding quotation and ‘ ’ for an embedded quotation.

‘ ’

1. (Brazil) Encloses an embedded (inner) quotation.
2. (Portugal) Encloses a doubly embedded quotation.

Brazil follows American usage of “ ” for a simple or outer quotation, and ‘ ’ for an embedded quotation.

Portugal follows French usage of « » for a simple or outer quotation, “ ” for an embedded quotation, and ‘ ’ for a doubly embedded quotation or mention, thus: « ... “ ... ‘ ... ’ ... ” ... ».

‘ ’

1. Encloses a word or expression that is being used in its conceptual meaning or as a definition of another
2. Encloses an embedded (inner) quotation further inside an already embedded (inner) quotation

• The above quotation marks are typically called comillas simples.
• An outer quotation is enclosed with ⟨« »⟩, then within it an embedded (inner) quotation is typically enclosed with ⟨“ ”⟩, then further within it ⟨‘ ’⟩ are used to enclose it.

• « »
• “ ”