Etymologically
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folder

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 22:03. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈfəʊldə/[1]
  • US: /ˈfoʊldɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from the verb fold with the agent suffix -er.[2][3][4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who folds something: the OED's first example is in Richard Huloet's Abcedarium Anglico Latinum (1552),[2] also Merriam-Webster's date;[5] Etymonline gives the 1550s.[3] The Shorter Oxford dates this sense to the mid 17th century and notes that it is found earlier in unfolder.[4]

Semantic evolution

From the person who folds, the word passed to things that fold: an instrument for folding paper (1846) and later machines that fold paper.[2][4] In the United States a folder was a printed sheet that folds up, such as a map or a railway timetable, from 1889.[2][3] The now usual sense, a folding cover for keeping loose papers, is recorded in Etymonline from 1903;[3] the OED's first example is from 1911.[2] In computing the word was used from 1983 for a named container in a graphical interface, in which files and other folders are kept.[2] American students used folder in 1989 for someone who tires early and goes home from a party.[7] A separate, rare folder, from fold in the sense "to pen sheep", meant a shepherd (1571).[2][4]

Timeline

  • 1552 – a person who folds something.[2]
  • 1846 – an instrument for folding paper.[2]
  • 1889 – (US) a printed sheet that folds up, such as a map or timetable.[2]
  • 1903 – a folding cover for loose papers.[3]
  • 1983 – (computing) a container for files in a graphical interface.[2]
  • 1989 – (US campus slang) someone who tires easily and leaves a party early.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A folded cover or holder of stiff paper or cardboard, for keeping loose papers: She slid the contract into a blue folder.
  2. (computing) A named place in a computer's file system, shown as an icon, in which files and other folders are stored; a directory.
  3. A printed sheet folded into pages, such as a leaflet, map or timetable.
  4. A person or machine that folds things, especially paper.

Word family

  • file folder

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com