The same three dots turned through a right angle, with no agreed difference in what they do.
Vertical is the kebab, horizontal the meatball. That is the whole distinction, and it is a distinction in drawing rather than in meaning: both open a menu of secondary actions, and which one a product uses is house style. The food names are designer folklore, not terminology anybody defines.
The same three dots turned through a right angle. Vertical is the kebab, horizontal the meatball, and which appears where is a matter of house style rather than meaning.
Drawn from the visual attributes recorded for each symbol. Only traits the two records disagree about are listed.
| Trait | Kebab menu symbol | Meatball menu symbol |
|---|---|---|
| Symmetry | vertical | horizontal |
| Kebab menu symbol | Meatball menu symbol | |
|---|---|---|
| Orientation | Vertical | Horizontal |
| What it opens | A menu of further actions | A menu of further actions |
| Agreed difference in meaning | None | None |
| Named by | Designers, informally | Designers, informally |
| Relationship (from Symbolwise's records) | Commonly confused with Meatball menu symbol — The same three dots turned through a right angle. Vertical is the kebab, horizontal the meatball, and which appears where is a matter of house style rather than meaning. | Commonly confused with Kebab menu symbol — The same three dots turned through a right angle, with no agreed difference in meaning. |
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-01
Tertiary reference. Used for widely-agreed identity, origin and current use, not for contested detail or exact dates.
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-01
Tertiary reference. Used for widely-agreed identity, origin and current use, not for contested detail or exact dates.
In code, three dots before a value expand it into its elements. In an interface, three dots in a row open a menu of further actions. Both are described as 'three dots' by the people who meet them, which is the entire basis of the confusion — there is no relationship between the two.
Both are drawn as one continuous decorative stroke with a closed loop and a tail that crosses back over itself, which is why a description of the shape alone reaches both. The clef is far taller, spans a stave, and its spiral encircles one specific line — that encircled line is the note G, and it is the only reason the shape is drawn where it is.
As punctuation the asterisk points at a footnote or marks a required field. In a filename pattern typed at a shell it matches any run of characters, including none — and the shell expands it against real filenames before the command runs, so the command never sees the pattern at all. That expansion is the part people are surprised by.
Check where the dot sits. A dot immediately to the right of the notehead adds half the note's value again — a dotted half note lasts three beats. A dot directly above or below the head means staccato: play it short and detached. One dot, two opposite instructions, and only position distinguishes them.