backslash

back +‎ slash, because it is a slash going back against the direction of writing, in contrast to the common slash / (“slash, solidus, oblique, forward slash”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbækˌslæʃ/

backslash (plural backslashes)

1. The punctuation mark \.
2. (computing, rare, proscribed) Used erroneously in reference to, or in reading out, the ordinary slash, that is, the punctuation mark /.
   • 2001, James T. Bretzke, Bibliography on East Asian Religion and Philosophy, Edwin Mellen Press, →ISBN, page 455:

     […] I was trying to find a web-site for which I had been given the following address: http://www.isop.ucla.edu/pacrim/pubs/korjournal.htm. […] I began to work backwards, removing first the last part of the address following the last backslash (/korjournal.htm).

   • 2010, Lee Vance, The Garden of Betrayal, Random House (2011), →ISBN, page 25:

     “So, do what I tell you. Open a browser window and type this in the menu^[sic] bar: F-T-P colon backslash backslash euronews dot net backslash...”

     I pecked carefully at the keyboard as he dictated a URL that was about fifty characters long, […]

   • 2010, Frank Barnas and Ted White, Broadcast News Writing, Reporting, and Producing, Fifth Edition, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 114:

     Also, avoid submenus^[sic] that can confuse the audience—if you're giving lengthy Web site addresses full of backslashes, shorten it so only the Web site's home page is given.

• Sometimes used to indicate the beginning and ending of an area of words being marked for correction.

• reverse solidus
• slosh
• whack

• slash

• slash

backslash (third-person singular simple present backslashes, present participle backslashing, simple past and past participle backslashed)

1. (computing, transitive) To escape (a metacharacter) by prepending a backslash that serves as an escape character, thereby forming an escape sequence.

• backslash on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Typography

Borrowed from English backslash.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛkslɛʃ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: back‧slash

backslash m (plural backslashes or backslashen, diminutive backslashje n)

1. backslash

• omgekeerde schuine streep
• schuine streep naar achter
• schuine streep naar links
• terugschrap
• terugstreep