Editing Ampersand (section)

==Writing the ampersand==
In everyday [[handwriting]], the ampersand is sometimes simplified in design as a large lowercase [[epsilon]] {{char|Ɛ}} or a reversed numeral {{char|3}}, superimposed by a vertical line.<ref name="handwriting" /> The ampersand is also sometimes shown as an epsilon with a vertical line above and below it or a dot above and below it.<ref name="handwriting" />

The [[plus sign]] {{char|+}} (itself based on an et-ligature<ref>{{cite book|last=Cajori|first=Florian|title=A History of Mathematical Notations, Vol. 1|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.200372|year=1928|publisher=The Open Court Company, Publishers|chapter=Origin and meanings of the signs + and −}}</ref>) is often informally used in place of an ampersand, sometimes with an added loop and resembling {{char|ɬ}}.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} Other times it is a single stroke with a diagonal line connecting the bottom to the left side. This was a version of shorthand for ampersand, and the stroke economy of this version provided ease of writing for workers while also assuring the character was distinct from other numeric or alphabetic symbols.

<div class='skin-invert-image'>{{gallery |height=100
|File:Ampersand Handwriting 1.jpg
  |An ampersand written with a vertical stroke<ref name="handwriting">{{cite web|url=https://www.webpagefx.com/blog/web-design/visual-guide-ampersand/|work=Six Revisions|title=A Visual Guide to the Ampersand (Infographic)|date=13 October 2011|access-date=24 June 2017|archive-date=15 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115161814/https://www.webpagefx.com/blog/web-design/visual-guide-ampersand/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|File:Ampersand Handwriting 3.jpg 
   |An ampersand written with the vertical stroke merged into the edges<ref name="handwriting" />
|File:Ampersand Handwriting 2.jpg 
   |A handwritten [[plus sign]] used, like the ampersand, to mean "and"
}}</div>