English dictionary, thesaurus, translations & etymology

Etymology — The Origins of English Words

Where do words come from? Trace the origin and history of any English word, from its Latin, Greek or Old English roots through to its modern meaning. Every etymology is sourced.

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cloud computing

From cloud, long used in network diagrams as a symbol for a network whose internal detail is not shown, and computing.

A compound of merge, the act of combining two lines of changes, and conflict.

virtual machine

A compound of virtual, in the sense of existing in effect though not in physical form, and machine.

A compound of run and time, originally written as two words in computing and later closed up.

From compile, via Old French compiler and Latin compilare meaning to gather or plunder, plus the agent ending -er; applied to software from the early decades of programming.

From the surname of George Boole, the nineteenth-century English mathematician whose work on the algebra of logic the term commemorates, plus the adjectival ending -an.

A shortening of regular expression.

An initialism of software development kit.

An initialism of command-line interface.

operating system

A compound of operating, from operate, and system; in use in computing from the era of early mainframes, when the software that operated the machine was distinguished from the programs run on it.

From anti- meaning against, and virus in its computing sense.

An initialism of distributed denial of service.

From the count of days the maker of the software has had to fix the flaw, namely zero, because it is already being used against them by the time they learn of it.

An acronym of completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart.

An initialism of two-factor authentication.

A blend of ransom and software, following the pattern of malware and spyware.

From mesh, a net of interlaced strands, describing the many interconnecting links between the devices.

A compound of hot, in the figurative sense of intense or active, and spot, a place. The wireless sense extends the older general meaning of an area of concentrated activity.

A shortening of fifth generation, continuing the numbering used for earlier mobile network standards such as 3G and 4G.

From ether, the substance once thought to fill space and carry light waves, plus the suffix -net for network.

An initialism of near-field communication, describing the very short range over which the signal operates.

A brand name adopted by the industry group that certifies compatible wireless equipment. It is a coined trade name rather than an abbreviation, though it plays on the older term hi-fi.

An initialism of NVM Express, itself from non-volatile memory, with express marking the interface's high speed.

From thermal, relating to heat, plus paste.