Download

How to spell download

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce download

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does download mean?

1. verbTo transfer data or a file from a remote system or the internet to your own device.
2. nounA file or piece of data that has been transferred to a device, or the act of transferring it.

Download in a sentence

• verb

  You can download the boarding pass to your phone before the flight.

• noun

  The album was released as a paid download a week before the physical copies.

• verb

  The slow connection meant it took an hour to download the software update.

• noun

  The free download includes the manual and a trial licence.

Where does download come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a thoroughly modern compound, built from two very old native English elements. The first, 'down', traces back to the Old English 'dune', a worn-down form of 'of dune' meaning 'off the hill', so the literal sense is movement to a lower place. The second, 'load', comes from the Old English 'lad', which originally meant a way, a journey, or the act of carrying, and is related to 'lade' (as in a laden ship). The two were welded together in the computing age of the 1970s to describe data moving 'down' from a larger or central machine to a smaller, local one, mirroring the older image of unloading a cargo. Because both parts are familiar everyday words, the spelling holds few traps, the only point of care being that it is written as a single solid word, not 'down load'.

How the word is built

• down (adverb: from a higher place to a lower one)
• load (to transfer data, originally to place a burden)