Upload

How to spell upload

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce upload

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does upload mean?

1. verbTo transfer data or files from a local device to a remote server, website, or network.
2. nounAn instance of transferring data to a server, or the data so transferred.

Upload in a sentence

• verb

  Please upload the signed contract to the shared drive before the meeting.

• noun

  The failed upload left half the report missing from the system.

• verb

  The photographer needs to upload the wedding album to the client portal tonight.

• noun

  Each upload is scanned for viruses before it reaches the main server.

Where does upload come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a modern compound that combines the everyday English elements 'up' and 'load', both of which trace back to Old English: 'up' from 'uppe', meaning toward a higher point, and 'load' from 'lad', which originally meant a way, a journey, or the act of carrying. For centuries 'load' simply referred to a burden or a quantity of goods being moved, as in a cart load or a ship's load. The word 'upload' was coined in the late twentieth century, around the 1970s, as computing spread and people needed a verb for sending data from a local machine 'up' to a central server or network. It was modelled directly on its mirror term 'download', which had appeared slightly earlier; the directional metaphor treats the remote server as 'up' and your own device as 'down'. Because both parts are ordinary words joined without any silent letters or doubling, the spelling is genuinely transparent, and the only thing to remember is that it is written as a single solid word with no hyphen.

How the word is built

• up- (from Old English up, denoting movement to a higher or outward place)
• load (a quantity carried or transferred)