- a punctuation mark (') used to indicate either possession (e.g. Harry's book; boys' coats) or the omission of letters or numbers (e.g. can't; he's; 1 Jan.' 99)撇号（即'）。
词源
mid 16th cent. (denoting the omission of one or more letters)： via late Latin， from Greek apostrophos 'accent of elision'， from apostrephein 'turn away'， from apo 'from' + strephein 'to turn'.
- Rhetoric an exclamatory passage in a speech or poem addressed to a person (typically one who is dead or absent) or thing (typically one that is personified)【修辞】呼语法。
词源
mid 16th cent.: via Latin from Greek apostrophē 'turning away'， from apostrephein 'turn away' （see APOSTROPHE1 ）.