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Etymology and origin of the English word multimedia

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1950 New York Times
Ultimate origins
English multi-Latin media
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English media
Italian media
English multimedia

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌmʌltiˈmiːdi.ə/[1]
  • US: /ˌmʌltiˈmidi.ə/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English multi- + media,[2][3][4][5] partly from media in the sense of the mass media and partly from the same word as the plural of medium.[2][4] The OED compares the earlier adjective multimedial, and for the use in art also mixed media.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a creative work or an artist: using or combining several artistic or communicative media, in 1950, in an advertisement in the New York Times.[2] Merriam-Webster gives 1950 for the noun's sense of a technique using several media and 1962 for the adjective,[4] Etymonline dates the adjective "by 1959",[3] and Dictionary.com gives 1960–65.[5]

Semantic evolution

The word began in the arts, education and communication, for work that combined several media.[2][3] The noun, the various media or their combined use, is recorded from 1962, in a heading in Educational Screen & Audiovisual Guide,[2] and Collins notes its use especially in education.[6] With the spread of computers it was applied from 1976 to systems handling text, sound, pictures and video together; from 1981 the noun meant such combined digital content.[2][4] The OED also records an occasional plural multimedias.[2]

Timeline

  • 1950 – adjective, of a creative work or artist, using several media.[2][4]
  • 1959 – adjective, using more than one medium (Etymonline's date).[3]
  • 1962 – noun, various media or their combined use.[2][4]
  • 1976 – adjective, in computing, combining text, audio, video and animation.[2]
  • 1981 – noun, in computing, content combining several digital forms.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Using or combining several media, such as film, sound, slides and print: a multimedia lecture on coral reefs.[6][4][2]
  2. In computing, combining text, sound, still pictures, video and animation in one application or device.[6][7][2]

Noun

  1. The combined use of several media, as in teaching, entertainment, art or advertising.[7][6][4]
  2. In computing, content or software that combines text, audio, video and animation; as an extension of hypertext, audio and video material linked to a text.[2][8][4]

Word family

  • multimedial

Usage notes

As a noun it is formally a plural, as Collins lists it,[6] but the American Heritage Dictionary notes that it takes a singular verb.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
Cite this entry

“Multimedia.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/multimedia. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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