Punctuation marks are marks indicating how a piece of written text should be read and, consequently, understood. The oldest known examples of punctuation marks were found in the Mesha Stele from the 9th century BC, consisting of points between the words and horizontal strokes between sections. The alphabet-based writing began with no spaces, no capitalization, no vowels, and with only a few punctuation marks, as it was mostly aimed at recording business transactions. Only with the Greek playwrights did the ends of sentences begin to be marked to help actors know when to make a pause during performances. Punctuation includes space between words and the other, historically or currently used, signs.

विराम शब्द वि + रम् + घं से बना है और इसका मूल अर्थ है "ठहराव", "आराम" आदि के लिए। जिन सर्वसंमत चिह्नों द्वारा, अर्थ की स्पष्टता के लिए वाक्य को भिन्न भिन्न भागों में बाँटते हैं, व्याकरण या रचनाशास्त्र में उन्हें "विराम" कहते हैं। "विराम" का ठीक अंग्रेजी समानार्थी "स्टॉप" (Stop) है, किंतु प्रयोग में इस अर्थ में "पंक्चुएशन" (Punctuation) शब्द मिलता है। "पंक्चुएशन" का संबंध लैटिन शब्द (Punctum) शब्द से है, जिसका अर्थ "बिंदु" (Point) है। इस प्रकार "पंक्चुएशन" का यथार्थ अर्थ बिंदु रखना" या "वाक्य में बिंदु रखना" है।