DictionaryAI

wiki

WIK-ee/ˈwɪki/

Pluralwikis

Verbwikis, wikiing, wikied

3 meanings of wiki

Practice

  1. 1
    shared websitenouncountable
    A collaborative website whose pages can be edited directly in a web browser, often by anyone who can access it.

    The team keeps its project notes on an internal wiki so everyone can update them.

    Fans have built detailed wikis covering every character in the series.

    Note

    The name is Hawaiian at heart: it is short for WikiWikiWeb, which combines Hawaiian wikiwiki, "quick", with English web. Ward Cunningham launched WikiWikiWeb, the first wiki, in 1995. The speed is the point, since a reader who spots a mistake can fix it on the spot.

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Wiki is short for WikiWikiWeb, combining Hawaiian wikiwiki, meaning "quick", with English web. en.wiktionary.org
    • Ward Cunningham launched WikiWikiWeb, the first wiki, in 1995. en.wikipedia.org
    • The name reflects the intention to make editing web pages quick. c2.com
  2. 2
    look upverbtransitive or intransitive
    To look something up on Wikipedia or a similar wiki.

    I wikied the director halfway through the film to find out what else she had made.

    If you can't remember when the treaty was signed, just wiki it before class.

    UsageYou can say wiki it. The past tense is wikied and the -ing form is wikiing.

    Note

    In this sense it is the reader's verb: you wiki a topic, a plot point or a foreign word to get the gist quickly, and it can also stand without an object.

  3. 3
    verbintransitive
    To add to or edit the content of a wiki, or to produce something such as a document collaboratively by means of a wiki.
    Blogging, wiki-ing, coding are all activities that generate authorial product.
    2006, Deptford Tv, Deptford.TV Diaries
    The best way to start wiki-ing is to find an existing wiki (that is, a hosted wiki) and start adding to it.
    2007, Dan Woods with Peter Thoeny, Wikis for dummies
    Note

    This is the writer's side of the verb: to wiki here is to add and edit rather than to look things up. It usually stands without an object, often hyphenated as wiki-ing, and it tends to appear in lists beside blogging and coding, as one of the ways people produce text together online.

Practice

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Origin

Shortened from WikiWikiWeb, the first wiki, which Ward Cunningham named after the Wiki Wiki Shuttle buses at Honolulu airport; Hawaiian wikiwiki means "quick". The short form is first recorded in 1995, in PC Week.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts