ampersand

The noun is a British regional or informal pronunciation of the phrase and per se and (literally “the & symbol by itself [representing the word] and”), which was used to distinguish the & symbol from &c. (“et cetera, etc.”) Compare other constructions such as A per se a (“A as a word by itself”; whence A-per-se), I per se I (the pronoun I), and O per se O (the particle O). The spelling ampersand is first attested in 1795: see the quotation.

The verb is derived from the noun.