Punctuation mark
` (English name backtick or backquote or backprime)
- (dated, computing) Alternative form of ‘ (quotation mark)
- (computing) Used as an enclosing construct in some programming languages
1997, Mark G. Sobell, “The TC Shell”, in A Practical Guide to Linux, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, →ISBN, page 440:The echo and sed commands appear within backprimes (`) that indicate command substitution: The result of executing the commands within the backprimes replaces the backprimes and everything between them.
- (nonstandard, Internet) Alternative form of ' (apostrophe)
- (formal) A grave accent or baria as a spacing character.
Usage notes
The Unicode code point U+1FEF GREEK VARIA is canonically equivalent to U+0060 GRAVE ACCENT, and U+FF40 FULLWIDTH GRAVE ACCENT ⟨`⟩ is a fullwidth character for use in East Asian typography.
(grave accent / baria): The use of such spacing characters is generally archaic outside of pedagogical contexts. See U+02CB MODIFIER LETTER GRAVE ACCENT ⟨ˋ⟩ for the tone mark.
Compare acute accent: ´.