Stet
An editorial mark meaning 'let it stand' — undo a proposed change and keep the original.
'Stet' is the Latin imperative 'let it stand', used as an editorial instruction to cancel a previously marked correction and restore the original wording. In manuscript editing, the editor writes 'stet' in the margin and, traditionally, places a row of dots under the text that should be preserved. Compositors are trained to read the combination and leave that text alone.
The mark carries a specific authority in the editing process. It is used by senior editors, by authors reviewing copyediting, and by proofreaders reversing changes they now think were wrong. The mark says: I saw the proposed change, I considered it, and I am choosing the original. That is different from missing the change; 'stet' documents the decision.
In a citation and quotation context, 'stet' also occasionally appears as a note explaining a preserved oddity in a quoted text — a marker that the editor of the quoting work saw a strange word or spelling in the source and chose to keep it. In this use, 'stet' overlaps with 'sic', which is more common for the same purpose today.
Common mistake: treating 'stet' as informal shorthand. It is a specific editorial instruction with a specific mark; scattering the word in comments where 'keep this' would do dilutes its meaning in the workflow.
“grey stet”
Keep reading the glossary
Latin for 'thus' — used in quotes to mark an error reproduced from the original.
A parenthetical note telling the reader that italics or bolding in a quotation come from the quoter, not the original author.
Square brackets mark editorial changes inside a quotation — clarifications, edits, or [sic].
An editor's word or phrase inserted inside a quotation, marked with square brackets.