What does ellipsize mean in android?

In my experience, Ellipsis works only if the below two attributes are set.

android:ellipsize="end"
android:singleLine="true"

for the width of TextView, wrap_content or match_parent should both be good.

You can find documentation here.

Based on your requirement you can try according option.

to ellipsize, a neologism, means to shorten text using an ellipsis, i.e. three dots ... or more commonly ligature …, to stand in for the omitted bits.

Say original value pf text view is aaabbbccc and its fitting inside the view

start's output will be : ...bccc

end's output will be : aaab...

middle's output will be : aa...cc

marquee's output will be : aaabbbccc auto sliding from right to left