伏ふせ字じ

noun

censorship symbol; placeholder character

A symbol (e.g., ○, ×, 〓, ※) used in place of a word that cannot be printed, often for legal, privacy, or editorial reasons. Common in newspapers, books, and online text.

• 新しん聞ぶん記き事じで、実じつ名めいの代かわりに伏ふせ字じが使つかわれていた。

  In the newspaper article, a censorship symbol was used instead of the real name.

• この本ほんでは、差さ別べつ用よう語ごはすべて伏ふせ字じになっている。

  In this book, all discriminatory terms are replaced with placeholder characters.

noun

turn (in typesetting); upside-down character

In traditional typesetting, a character placed upside down to indicate a correction or a placeholder; later printed as 〓. Rare outside historical printing contexts.

• 活かっ版ぱん印いん刷さつでは、校こう正せいの際さいに伏ふせ字じとして逆ぎゃく字じを入いれることがあった。

  In letterpress printing, an upside-down character was sometimes inserted as a placeholder during proofreading.