From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the verb. For the use of the verb in cricket, see Googly. For other uses, see Google (disambiguation).
Look up Google in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
The act of using the Google search engine is known colloquially as googling.
Owing to the dominance of the Google search engine,[1] to google has become a transitive verb.[2] The neologism commonly refers to searching for information on the World Wide Web using the Google search engine.[3] The American Dialect Society chose it as the «most useful word of 2002».[4] It was added to the Oxford English Dictionary on June 15, 2006,[5] and to the eleventh edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary in July 2006.[6]
Etymology[edit]
The first recorded usage of google was as a gerund, on July 8, 1998, by Google co-founder Larry Page himself, who wrote on a mailing list: «Have fun and keep googling!».[7] Its earliest known use as an explicitly transitive verb on American television was in the «Help» episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (October 15, 2002), when Willow asked Buffy, «Have you googled her yet?».[8]
To prevent genericizing and potential loss of its trademark, Google has discouraged use of the word as a verb, particularly when used as a synonym for general web searching. On February 23, 2003,[9] Google sent a cease and desist letter to Paul McFedries, creator of Word Spy, a website that tracks neologisms.[10] In an article in The Washington Post, Frank Ahrens discussed the letter he received from a Google lawyer that demonstrated «appropriate» and «inappropriate» ways to use the verb «google».[11]
It was reported that, in response to this concern, lexicographers for the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary lowercased the actual entry for the word, google, while maintaining the capitalization of the search engine in their definition, «to use the Google search engine to seek online information» (a concern which did not deter the Oxford editors from preserving the history of both «cases»).[12] On October 25, 2006, Google sent a request to the public requesting that «You should please only use ‘Google’ when you’re actually referring to Google Inc. and our services.»[13]
Ungoogleable is something that cannot be «googled» – i.e. it cannot be easily found using a web search engine, especially Google.[14] If a word or phrase is ungoogleable, it means it cannot be googled. In 2013, the Swedish Language Council attempted to include the Swedish version of the word («ogooglebar«) in its list of new words, but Google objected to the definition not being specifically related to Google, and the council was forced to briefly remove it to avoid a legal confrontation with Google.[15][16]
See also[edit]
- grep
- Ogooglebar, Swedish for «ungoogleable»
- Photoshop (verb), a similar neologism referring to digital photo editing
References[edit]
- ^ Burns, Enid (June 19, 2007). «Top 10 Search Providers, April 2007». SearchEngineWatch.com. Archived from the original on August 25, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007.
- ^ «Google — Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary». Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
- ^ «How Google Became a Verb». The Lingua File — The Language Blog. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
- ^ «2002 Words of the Year». American Dialect Society. January 13, 2003. Retrieved August 11, 2007.
- ^ Bylund, Anders. «To Google or Not to Google.» The Motley Fool. July 5, 2006. Retrieved on March 28, 2007.
- ^ Harris, Scott D. (July 7, 2006). «Dictionary adds verb: to google». San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on February 6, 2007. Retrieved July 7, 2006.
- ^ Page, Larry (July 8, 1998). «Google Search Engine: New Features». Google Friends Mailing List. Archived from the original on October 9, 1999. Retrieved August 6, 2007.
- ^ Arthur, Charles (2012). Digital Wars: Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Battle for the Internet. Kogan Page Publishers. p. 48. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
- ^ McFedries, Paul (February 23, 2003). «Google trademark concerns». American Dialect Society Mailing List. Archived from the original on July 3, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007.
- ^ Duffy, Jonathan. «Google calls in the ‘language police’.» BBC News. June 20, 2003. Retrieved on July 7, 2006.
- ^ Frank Ahrens (August 5, 2006). «So Google Is No Brand X, but What Is ‘Genericide’?». The Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2006.
- ^ Noon, Chris. «Brin, Page See ‘Google’ Take Its Place In Dictionary.» Forbes. July 6, 2006. Retrieved on July 7, 2006.
- ^ Krantz, Michael (October 25, 2006). «Do you «Google?»«. The Official Google Blog. Retrieved August 11, 2007.
- ^ «Who, What, Why: What is ‘ungoogleable’?». BBC News Magazine. BBC. March 27, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
- ^ Fanning, Sean (March 26, 2013). «Google gets ungoogleable off Sweden’s new word list». BBC News. BBC. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
- ^ Williams, Rob (March 26, 2013). «‘Ungoogleable’ removed from list of Swedish words after row over definition with Google: California based search engine giant asked Swedish to amend definition». The Independent. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
Table of Contents
- What is the origin of the word Google?
- Is Google an actual word?
- Is Google in the dictionary?
- What is Google easy definition?
- What is Google example?
- What is Google what does it do?
- Who is Google owner?
- Who is owner of alphabet?
- Who is highest salary in the world?
- What is the salary of Elon Musk per month?
- How can I be a CEO?
The name “Google” actually came from a graduate student at Stanford named Sean Anderson, Koller writes. Anderson suggested the word “googolplex” during a brainstorming session, and Page countered with the shorter “googol.” Googol is the digit 1 followed by 100 zeroes, while googolplex is 1 followed by a googol zeros.
Is Google an actual word?
Google is the word that is more common to us now, and so it is sometimes mistakenly used as a noun to refer to the number 10100. … Google, on the other hand, is the name of a search engine as well as a verb that refers to searching the Internet using the Google search engine.
Is Google in the dictionary?
Gary Price reports that “Google” is now officially a verb in the Oxford English Dictionary. Google already is a verb in some other dictionaries, but the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is considered the most authoritative dictionary of the English language.
What is Google easy definition?
Google is an internet search engine. It uses a proprietary algorithm that’s designed to retrieve and order search results to provide the most relevant and dependable sources of data possible.
What is Google example?
go͝ogəl. The definition of Google is a company known for an Internet search engine, as well as for computer apps like Gmail, Picasa and Google Drive. The company that made the commonly used Gmail email is an example of Google.
What is Google what does it do?
Google LLC is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products, which include online advertising technologies, a search engine, cloud computing, software, and hardware.
Who is Google owner?
Alphabet Inc.
Who is owner of alphabet?
Sundar Pichai (–)
Who is highest salary in the world?
It comes as no surprise that Switzerland has some of the highest salaries in the world. The average wage in Switzerland is of USD 64000 per year. An airline pilot in Switzerland earns around 210000 CHF per year, which is slightly more than USD 230,000.
What is the salary of Elon Musk per month?
The truth is that, according to Tesla’s financial statement, it is pointed out that Musk receives a monthly minimum wage for his work (US $ 2.
How can I be a CEO?
Typical Steps to Becoming a CEO
- Step 1: Earn a Bachelor’s Degree. The typical first step toward a career as a CEO is to obtain a bachelor’s degree. …
- Step 2: Build On-the-Job Experience. The position of CEO must be worked up to on a professional level. …
- Step 3: Earn a Master’s Degree (Optional)
Origin of Word Google
- The word ‘Google’ has an interesting origin. First and foremost, the name ‘Google’ is a play on the word ‘Googol’, which was coined by Milton Sirotta, nine-year-old nephew of U.S. mathematician Edward Kasner in 1938, to refer to the number represented by 1 followed by one hundred zeros. Although accepted to be coincidental, the name has also been interpreted as being the result of the merging of the words ‘go’ and ‘ogle’ (Wikipedia, 2005). Furthermore, in British slang, to “throw a googly�? means to ask a hard or unanswerable question (Wikipedia, 2005).
- Today, the term ‘google’ is so widely used and recognised that it has worked its way into modern dictionaries. The online dictionary, http://www.dictionary.com, defines ‘google’ as a verb, meaning ‘to search for information on the Internet’ (Dictionary.com, 2005).
Published January 25, 2018
Updated August 27, 2018
The history of the Google name can be traced back to a typo, an incredibly large number, and a nine-year-old boy.
Google Inc./Wikimedia Commons. Google’s logo.
Google is one of the biggest tech companies in history. Its impact on our daily lives is so huge that “to google something” has entered the language as a verb. If all the unique web pages in Google’s index were printed out, they would cover North America with a layer of paper five sheets thick. And if Google were a country, it would be the 70th richest country on the planet.
Of course, those figures are even more amazing when you consider that Google has only been around since 1998. And when Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, started the company, it’s hard to imagine they had any idea how big it would eventually be. After all, in 1997, Google still needed a name.
The Google name itself is actually a misspelling of “googol.” And a googol is a mathematical term meaning “10 raised to the power of 100.” So, in other words, that’s 1 with 100 zeroes behind it. But that description may not give you the full impression of just how big a googol is.
For instance, it’s estimated that there are about 10 to the power of 80 atoms in the universe. So, if you somehow counted every atom that exists in the entire universe one by one, you wouldn’t even come close to a googol. Of course, for reference, it’s still smaller than the total possible moves in a game of chess– 10 to the power 120. And if those numbers don’t have your head reeling yet, consider the googolplex.
The name googolplex was first proposed by the same person who invented the term “googol,” Milton Sirotta. Milton was the nine-year-old nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. And when Kasner asked Milton if he had an idea for a name for the number, he suggested something silly like “googol,” which was soon followed by the googolplex. Milton’s definition was “one, followed by writing zeroes until you get tired.”
Kasner instead suggested that googolplex could be “ten raised to the power of a googol.”Obviously, this is an insanely large number. In fact, if you were to print a googolplex out on paper, the paper would weigh more than all the mass in the Milky Way put together. It’s a huge, slightly-silly scientific concept, which obviously makes it a great name for a tech company.
Joi Ito/ Wikimedia CommonsSergey Brin and Larry Page.
So when Larry Page tried to come with a name for his company, someone suggested they name the company after the googol. Page liked the idea and asked his friend, Sean Anderson, to check if the domain name was available. But when Anderson typed the word out for the domain, he misspelled it as “Google.” Page quickly decided he liked this spelling better, and Google Inc. was born.
And while the Google name might sound a little silly, it’s far better than the name Page and Brin almost went with. When the two were students at Stanford University, they began work on a search program that eventually became Google. Because the program searched through backlinks, the two called it “BackRub.” So, if you’re glad you can “Google” something instead of “BackRubbing” it, you can thank a typo, an incredibly large number, and a nine-year-old boy.
Now that you know that truth about the Google name, learn how the internet was created and then discover why net neutrality is a bad idea. Then, investigate whether or not Google is making us stupid.
The Economist 
this week speculates that we are running out of combinations of letters for company names, and mentions the best and worst examples of made up names. One of the best is Google, which lead me to research its origin.
The good news is, there is a Maths angle.
The word Google comes from the googol, namely 10 to the power of 100, or 1 followed by one hundred zeros.
The founders of the company used the googol to represent the search engine idea of identifying an extremely large number of options. But the story goes that googol was
mis-spelled as google and the rest is history.
A nice GCSE question, in the new mode of “challenging”, might be:
A googol is 10 to the power 100
(a) What is a googol divided by ten to the power 98
(b) Write in standard form 15 googols
These could be seen as frightening, yet easy at the same time:
(a) answer = 10² = 100
(b) answer 1.5 x ten to the power 101
The word googol itself was invented by a nine year old (why am I not surprised?) in the 1920’s. The nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. To get an idea of what a googol “looks like” it is similar to the ratio of the mass of an electron to the mass of the whole visible universe.
The word google in fact was mentioned before the company invention by an unlikely author, Enid Blyton. Not in “A very large number of people go the smuggler’s top” but in the term “Google Bun” in Faraway Magic Tree. Also (much more likely) Douglas Adams used the term Googleplex in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, while Google itself uses “Googleplex” as the name for it’s HQ.
Googleplex is in fact the term for 10 to the power googol ( ten to the ten to the 100) which is a very large number indeed, perhaps to infinity and beyond. The mind boogles. I mean boggols. I mean boggles. in “Back to the Future 3″ the Doc says about future wife Clara ” She’s one in a billion. One in a Googleplex!”
The word googol surfaced again when it was the £1 million question in 2001 in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the one where Charles Ingram was revealed to have used an accomplice.
Google (the word) is often in the news. It was the subject of an imaginary merger of the future with Amazon and subsequent war with Microsoft in (the Epic 2014 Googlezon wars).
It has officially become a verb (to Google, to search). Ironically Google the company doesn’t like this use, because it has come to mean “to search the whole web”, not just using their search engine, although most people do actually use Google as their primary search tool.
Google has been translated for instance into Chinese
After a financial reorganisation, Google the company name, has technically become “Alphabet” (a combination of word search and alpha-bet, the best algorithm choices). Personally I don’t think “Alphabet” will stick – the word will never catch on!
Finally, the Economist rated Google one of the best company names (becoming a verb clinched it). The worst? A large consultancy expensively renamed itself “Monday”, a name judged so bad that it did not last to the Friday, when it was taken over.