comes from the Phoenician daleth and the Greek delta. In ancient Herbew-Phoenician D, then called daleth, meant door. To the ancient Greeks delta was the letter of Demeter, the huntress goddess. To the Romans it was used as an early version of the number M. To us, it is a note on musical scales and the mathematical sign for derivation. It also connotes a very poor grade.
manual alphabet, sign language alphabet, D DINGBAT     A typographic glyph or symbol subject to scorn because it has no apparent relation to the alphabet. Many dingbats are pictograms — tiny pictures of churches, airplanes, skiers, telephones, and the like, used in the tourist industry. Others are more abstract symbols, the emblems of the suits of playing cards, and so on.


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