virile

adj 1: characterized by energy and vigor; "a virile and ever

stronger free society"; "a new and virile leadership"

2: characteristic of a man; "a deep male voice"; "manly sports"

[syn: {male}, {manful}, {manlike}, {manly}]

3: (of a male) able to copulate [syn: {potent}] [ant: {impotent}]

virgule

Rare, and ambiguous: {slash} or {comma}.

"Virgule" (or rather, Latin "virgula", meaning "little rod"

or, vividly enough, "little penis") was the name of a

punctuation character shaped like a small {slash} and used in

the Latin writing system much like a modern {comma} -- hence

the ambiguity of this term in modern English.

Compare French "virgule" and Italian "virgola", meaning

"comma" (not "slash"); Italian "doppia virgola" and

"virgoletta", both meaning "{double quote}".

(1997-04-08)