What is an At Sign (@)? – Definition from WhatIs.com

What is an at sign?

On the Internet, @ (pronounced “at” or “at sign” or “address sign”) is the symbol in an E-mail address that separates the name of the user from the user’s Internet address, as in this hypothetical e-mail address example: [email protected]

In business, @ is a symbol meaning “at” or “each.” For example, it means “each” in “4 apples @ $.35 = $1.40.” Perhaps because it was one of the standard characters designed into typewriters (usually with the upper shift key pressed), the @ was chosen for inclusion as one of the special characters in the ASCII set of characters that became standard for computer keyboards, programs, and online message transmission.