Multimedia

How to spell multimedia

10 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce multimedia

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does multimedia mean?

1. nounContent or systems that combine several forms such as text, sound, images, and video.
2. adjectiveRelating to or using several forms of media at once.

Multimedia in a sentence

• noun

  The lecture used multimedia to mix audio clips with slides.

• adjective

  The company launched a multimedia campaign across print and online.

• noun

  The museum installed a multimedia display in the entrance hall.

• adjective

  She enrolled in a multimedia design programme at the college.

Where does multimedia come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is a modern compound built from two Latin elements. The prefix multi- comes from the Latin multus, meaning 'much' or 'many', the same root behind 'multiply' and 'multitude'. The second part, media, is the Latin plural of medium, which literally meant 'the middle' or 'a thing in the middle', and came to describe a channel or means through which something is conveyed. By the twentieth century 'media' had settled into English as the collective term for newspapers, radio, and television, the means by which information reaches an audience. 'Multimedia' was coined in the mid 1900s and became widespread with personal computing in the 1990s, describing content that combines several forms at once: text, sound, images, and video. The single 'm' joining the two halves is the usual spelling trap, since writers sometimes expect a doubled letter that never appears.

How the word is built

• multi- (many)
• media (plural of medium: a means or channel of communication)