Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
The hash or square symbol #, used mainly in telephony and computing.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US
Topics: media, publishing, typography
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: hash, hashtag, number sign, octothorn, pound sign
Antonyms: none provided
History
Origin disputed. There is no known usage before it was adopted by Bell Labs in the late 1960s or early 1970s, so most sources agree it was coined by someone at Bell Labs, but accounts from Bell Labs personnel conflict on the details. The derivation as a traditional term from octo- (“eight”) + thorpe (“field, hamlet or small village”) lacks any evidence, but there is near universal agreement that the first element refers to the number eight. Eight is derived from the number of ends of the lines. Thorpe could be a reference to Jim Thorpe, as one proponent was a fan of the athlete. However, it probably is just an arbitrarily-picked syllable with no particular meaning.
