separatrix
/sɛpəˈɹeɪtɹɪks/ noun
Forms separatrixes separatrices
- noun (typography, historical) The ⟨L⟩ or pipe ⟨|⟩ mark formerly used to divide integers from decimals.
- noun (typography, obsolete) Synonym of decimal point, which replaced such marks.
- noun (typography) The proofreader's mark resembling a slash ⟨ / ⟩ or vertical bar ⟨ | ⟩ placed after a note in the margin to indicate that it should replace the item(s) struckthrough in the running text or to separate it from other margin notes.
- noun A terminator: a line on a partially-illuminated surface separating the lit and shaded regions.
- noun (physics) The line between regions having different magnetic fields.
- noun (mathematics) The boundary separating two modes of behavior in a differential equation.
Synonyms
pipe slash decimal point which replaced such marks solidus virgule diagonal stroke
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin sēparātrīx, the feminine form of separator (originally owing to an implied līnea (“line”)), from sēparāre (“to divide; to separate”) + -trix (forming female agents). By surface analysis, separate + -trix. First developed as a decimal mark among the medieval Arab mathematicians, whence a shorter variant gave rise to the decimal comma employed by many European countries and their former colonies.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The decimal point; the dot placed at the left of a decimal fraction, to separate it from the whole number which it follows. The term is sometimes also applied to other marks of separation.
Etymology [L., she that separates.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “separatrix”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details