Etymologically
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spreadsheet

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 23:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈspɹɛd.ʃiːt/[1]
  • US: /ˈspɹɛd.ʃit/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English spread + sheet.[2][3][4][5] The OED and the Shorter Oxford take the first part as the participial adjective spread, Etymonline as the noun.[2][3][5] Merriam-Webster derives the computing word from spreadsheet, an outsize page used by accountants.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rubber made into a thin, flexible sheet by rolling, often applied to cloth: 1863, in Once a Week.[2]

Semantic evolution

From 1907 a spreadsheet was a document of columns and rows for recording and organizing data, at first drawn or printed on a sheet of paper,[2] the accountants' large sheet from which Merriam-Webster derives the modern word;[6] the World Book Dictionary still defines it as a sheet of paper for numerical data in rows and columns.[8] Etymonline dates the computing use to 1965,[5] while Merriam-Webster and the 1989 OED date the computer program to 1982.[6][9] In such a program a change in one cell can recalculate other cells automatically.[10][3] The verbal noun spreadsheeting, the use of a spreadsheet program, followed in the late 20th century.[3][9]

Timeline

  • 1863 – rubber in thin sheets.[2]
  • 1907 – a document of data in columns and rows, originally on paper.[2]
  • 1965 – in computing.[5] Merriam-Webster and the 1989 OED date the computer program to 1982.[6][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A computer program that arranges numbers and text in rows and columns of cells, so that changing one value can recalculate others, used especially for accounting and budgeting.[11][12][10][3]
  2. A table of data in rows and columns made with such a program, or drawn on paper: She sent the sales spreadsheet to the whole team.[11][6][2][8]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  8. ^ a b The World Book Dictionary (2015), Chicago: World Book
  9. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b Encarta World English Dictionary (2009 ed.), Redmond: Microsoft
  11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins