The mark that meant “at a price”
Long before email, @ was a compact way to write “at”—especially in buying and selling. In a note such as “12 items @ $2,” it meant 12 items at $2 apiece. The symbol saved space in ledgers, invoices, and other commercial records, where prices and quantities had to be recorded quickly and clearly.
The mark’s exact early history is uncertain, and its shape and use developed over time. But its familiar commercial meaning was well established before computers made it a global symbol.
Why it fit an email address
When engineer Ray Tomlinson adapted electronic messaging for networked computers in 1971, an address needed to distinguish a person’s account from the computer hosting it. He chose @ to separate those parts: in a form like `name@computer`, it reads naturally as “name at computer.”
That choice made practical sense. The symbol was already available on keyboards, uncommon in ordinary names, and carried a meaning that matched the job. Instead of inventing a new mark, email gave an old piece of commercial shorthand a new role: connecting a user to the machine where their messages belonged.
The same “at” logic later made @ useful for tagging people online. Its journey from price notation to digital address was less a reinvention than a change in what came after the word “at.”
