‘逗号’ (dòu hào) is the standard Chinese term for the punctuation mark ‘comma’. Literally, it means ‘teasing mark’ — 逗 (dòu) originally conveys a sense of pausing or playfully interrupting, while 号 (hào) means ‘mark’ or ‘sign’. Though the literal meaning sounds whimsical, in modern usage it refers strictly to the grammatical function of indicating a brief pause within a sentence, separating clauses or items in a list. It is one of the most frequently used punctuation marks in written Chinese, appearing in all formal and informal writing — from textbooks and news articles to text messages and social media posts.

Unlike English, where commas often separate subjects and predicates or introduce dependent clauses, Chinese comma usage tends to follow rhythmic phrasing and semantic grouping more than strict syntactic rules. Still, overuse or omission can cause ambiguity, so learners should practice observing how native writers segment ideas with 逗号.