English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Coined by American playwright George S. Kaufman in 1924 in his play Beggar on Horseback (1924). The preface to the 1924 play credits an earlier German work from 1911 where there is an actor Elisabeth Wigge.
Noun
widget (plural widgets)
- A placeholder name for an unnamed, unspecified, or hypothetical manufactured good or product, typically as an example for purposes of explaining concepts.
- Synonyms: thingy, gizmo, sprocket; see also Thesaurus:thingy
- Suppose we have a widget factory that produces 100 units per year...
- 2020 August 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Rail at the brink? Not yet...”, in Rail, page 3:
- Damage inflicted on the rail industry supply chain, from major contractors to widget manufacturers, would have further profound nationwide consequences on an already damaged industry and wrecked economy.
- A floating device inside a beer can, meant to create foam when opened.
- A small scraping tool consisting of a blade and a handle, commonly used to remove paint from glass and other smooth surfaces.
- Synonym: scraper
- (informal) Synonym of tool, implement, device, gadget, part.
Translations
unnamed, unspecified, or hypothetical manufactured good or product
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modular software component
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floating widget or other device inside a beer can
small scraping tool
Etymology 2
Noun
widget (plural widgets)
- (computing, graphical user interface) Any one of the components of a computer application's graphical user interface, such as a Cancel button or text input box that a user interacts with.
- Synonym: control
- (computing, graphical user interface) A small applet that can be placed on the desktop or in a sidebar, etc.
- This weather widget shows the current temperature.
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
component of a graphical user interface that the user interacts with
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Further reading
widget on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - graphical widget on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- software widget on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- “widget”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
widget m (plural widgets)
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English widget.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwiʝet/ [ˈwi.ʝet̪] (everywhere but Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay, northern Mexico, Yucatán and Central America (except Panama))
- IPA(key): /ˈwiʃet/ [ˈwi.ʃet̪] (Buenos Aires and environs)
- IPA(key): /ˈwiʒet/ [ˈwi.ʒet̪] (elsewhere in Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay)
- IPA(key): /ˈwiet/ [ˈwi.et̪] (northern Mexico, Yucatán, Central America (except Panama))
- Rhymes: -iʝet
Noun
widget m (plural widgets)
Usage notes
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.