Technology Words in English: Phones, Computers, and Life Online

Technology words are strange in English: most of them started as ordinary words that got a second, digital life. You stream a show the way a river streams. You post online the way you post a letter. A computer has a mouse, a desktop, and a window. For a learner, this is good news, because most of the vocabulary is built from words you already know. The trick is knowing which everyday word got a new job, and which of these terms Americans say differently from the British. This guide walks through the phone, the computer, the internet, and life online.

Your phone

The single most common device has one of the clearest US/UK splits in the language:

• Cell phone (US) / mobile phone or just "mobile" (UK). Americans usually shorten it to just cell or simply phone. "Cell" comes from the network of cell towers that carry the signal.
• To text someone (also "send a text") is to send a written message. Note that text works as both a verb and a noun: "I'll text you" and "I got your text."
• To call someone is to phone them; if they do not answer you leave a voicemail.
• Your phone's picture is taken with the camera, and one you take of yourself is a selfie.
• When the battery gets low, you charge it with a charger, and you plug it into an outlet (in British English, a socket).
• Silence it by putting it on mute, on vibrate, or in airplane mode.

Apps and the home screen

The programs on your phone are apps (short for "applications"):

• You download an app from the app store, and later install and open it. If you no longer want it, you delete or uninstall it.
• New versions arrive as updates, and your phone will ask you to update the app.
• Apps send you notifications, the little alerts that appear on your screen.
• The main screen of icons is the home screen; you tap an icon to open it, swipe to move between screens, and scroll to move up and down a page.

Computer terms

The computer has its own core vocabulary, most of it borrowed from the physical world:

• The hardware is the physical equipment; the software is the programs that run on it.
• The parts you touch: the screen or monitor, the keyboard (you type on it), the mouse (you click with it), and the speakers.
• A portable computer is a laptop; one that stays on a desk is a desktop. Confusingly, desktop also means the main screen of your computer, where your files and folders sit.
• Files are saved documents; folders hold groups of files. You save your work, delete what you do not need, and the deleted items go to the trash (in Windows, the "recycle bin").
• If a program stops responding it has frozen or crashed, and you may have to restart (or "reboot") the computer.

The internet and going online

To be online is to be connected to the internet; offline is the opposite:

• Wifi is the wireless connection in a home or café; you connect with a password (or "network key").
• You browse the internet using a browser and visit a website at its address (or "URL"). A single page is a web page.
• You search for things using a search engine, and pages you want to keep are saved as bookmarks.
• To log in (or "sign in") is to enter your username and password; to log out is to leave. Creating a new one is signing up for an account.
• Content moving toward you is a download; content going out from you is an upload. Video and music that play as they arrive are streamed.

Email and messaging

Written communication online splits into a few clear forms:

• An email has a subject line, a body, and sometimes an attachment (a file sent along with it).
• You send, reply to, or forward a message. Unwanted mail is spam, and it lands in your junk folder. Your incoming mail sits in your inbox.
• Quick back-and-forth messages are texts or DMs (direct messages), and a live typed conversation is a chat.

Social media

Finally, the words for life on social platforms, where old words picked up brand-new meanings:

• To post is to publish something; a single item is a post. To share is to pass along someone else's post.
• You follow an account to see its posts, and the people who follow you are your followers. The stream of posts you see is your feed.
• You like or comment on posts, and you tag someone to mention them by name.
• Something spreading very fast has gone viral.

Putting it all together

With these words you can narrate a whole digital day in English: charge your cell phone, download an app, tap through a few notifications, log in on your laptop, browse a website, reply to an email, and post a photo for your followers. Remember the American cell phone and outlet, and keep an eye on the two-word verbs like log in. For the workplace side of this vocabulary, see our guide to jobs and the office.

Want these words to come out automatically? The collection below turns every term in this article into flashcards and quick quizzes, so the language of technology becomes second nature.