It has more than 62 million articles in more than 300 languages, but people are only just learning how Wikipedia got its name. Since January 2001, Wikipedia has been giving us answers to almost everything thanks to its dedicated team of Wikipedians, who populate its web pages with information in their free time.
The website is described as a "free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and millions already have." A statement reads: "Written by mostly anonymous volunteers, known as Wikipedians, anyone with internet access can edit Wikipedia articles, unless editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism."
This has made some people curious about how the website got its name. One Reddit user asked: "What does the prefix 'wiki' mean or where does it come from? We have Wikileaks, Wikipedia, subreddits and TV shows, etc have their own 'wiki'. Are they connected?"
It turns out Wikipedia got its name from a mix of the words 'wiki' and 'encyclopedia'. 'Wiki' means 'quick' in Hawaiian. The website is super fast, helping users find what they're looking for in just a few clicks. It's huge too, with over 62 million articles in more than 300 languages.
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A statement on Wikipedia says: "The online encyclopedia project Wikipedia is the most popular wiki-based website, and is one of the most widely viewed sites in the world, having been ranked in the top twenty since 2007. Wikipedia is not a single wiki but rather a collection of hundreds of wikis, with each one pertaining to a specific language."
"The English-language Wikipedia has the largest collection of articles: as of January 2024, it has over six million articles. " One Reddit user commented: "It all started with WardsWiki. Wikipedia didn't come along until 2001. WardsWiki was started in 1995, a full six years earlier."
Wikipedia now runs on software called MediaWiki, which was created in 2003. Before that, it used UseModWiki. There were also PHPWiki and others before MediaWiki came along. Another user added: "Wiki has become a catch-all for any kind of online database. As mentioned by another user, it means 'fast' in Hawaiian.
"I would assume the original etymology of the word "Wikipedia" was intended to be a play on words that more or less meant 'fast encyclopedia'. Over time, 'wiki' has grown to mean any online database- usually one written by many people collectively."
"As for why other sites use the prefix or suffix is anybody's guess, but I think it's just because Wikipedia is so popular and has such a unique and recognizable format." A third user said: "Wikipedia did not coin the term, only popularized it. A blog, short for weblog, is an online article written by a single author. A wiki is an article written and edited by many authors."
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story.
