World Ampersand Day Date in the current year: September 8, 2025

The ampersand (&), also known as the and sign, is the logogram that represents the conjunction “and”. It originated in the old Roman cursive, where the letters e and t in the conjunction et (and) were sometimes written together as a ligature. The ligature continued to be used in Latin script over the following centuries, gradually becoming more and more stylized. The modern italic type ampersand began to develop during the Renaissance.

The name “ampersand” is derived from the Latin expression per se, meaning “by itself”, or, more precisely, from the phrase “and per se and”, referring to the & sign when spelling aloud. The phase was routinely slurred to “ampersand”, and the term entered common English usage in the early 19th century. There is a widespread false etymology claiming that the ampersand was named after French physicist and mathematician André-Marie Ampère (“Ampère’s and”), who used the symbol in his publications, but this is only a common misconception.

The ampersand has a wide range of uses in different fields. It is often used in business names that reflect a partnership between two or more people (Barnes & Noble, Dolce & Gabbana) and in some abbreviations that contain the conjunction “and” (B&B for bed and breakfast, R&B for rhythm and blues). The ampersand can also be used in lists to indicate that “and” is part of the name of a listed item, rather than a separator between two different items.

In the film industry, & can be used to indicate two authors who worked closely together on the screenplay (as opposed to, for example, one screenwriter rewriting the work of the other). In academic writing (APA style), & is used when citing sources, for example, “Author, A., & Author, B.” In the publishing industry, the ampersand may be used in titles on book covers as a design choice. The & character is also used as an operator in many programming languages. Finally, many people use & instead of “and” in informal writing because it saves time.

World Ampersand Day was founded by Chaz DeSimone, an American graphic designer who specializes in hand lettering and typography. In addition to his design business, DeSimone created AmperArt, a monthly project featuring the ampersand as fun and fabulous art. In 2015, he partnered with National Day Calendar to create National Ampersand Day to celebrate the amazing sign. In 2022, the holiday was renamed World Ampersand Day to highlight the ubiquity of the ampersand.

There are many fun ways to join the celebration of World Ampersand Day. You can use the ampersand instead of “and” in everything you write, learn more about the history of the ampersand and its use, try your hand at drawing different ampersand designs or using the sign in art, and spread the word about the holiday on social media using the hashtag #WorldAmpersandDay.