That little “a” with a circle curling around it that is found in email addresses is most commonly referred to as the “at” symbol. Surprisingly though, there is no official, universal name for this sign. There are dozens of strange terms to describe the @ symbol. Several languages use words that associate the shape of the symbol with some type of animal.
For instance, some quirky names for the @ symbol include:
apenstaartje – Dutch for “moenkey’s tail”
snabel – Danish for “elephant’s trunk”
kissanhnta – Finnish for “cat’s tail”
papaki – Greek for “hanging monkey”
kukac – Hungarian for “worm”
dalphaengi – Korean for “smail”
grisehale – Norwegian for “pig’s tail”
sobachka – Russian for “little dog”
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