Internet

See also: internet and İnternet

English

Alternative forms

• internet (see Usage notes below)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁en-

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én

Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér

Proto-Italic *ənter

Latin inter

Latin inter-bor.

English inter-

Proto-Indo-European *neHd-

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Germanic *natją

Proto-West Germanic *nati

Old English nett

Middle English net

English net

Proto-Indo-European *werǵ-

Proto-Indo-European *-om

Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom

Proto-Germanic *werką

Proto-West Germanic *werk

Old English weorc

Middle English werk

English work

English network

English internetwork

English Internet

Coined by the U.S. Defense Department in 1986, shortening of internetwork.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɪntəˌnɛt/
• (US) enPR: ĭnʹtərnĕt', IPA^(key): /ˈɪn(t)ɚˌnɛt/, [ˈɪɾ̃ɚˌnɛt]

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Inter‧net
• Rhymes: -ɛt

Proper noun

the Internet

2. The global, decentralized network of computers which communicate with one another using the Internet protocol suite, which now forms a vital part of global communication, content sharing, and information exchange systems.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:Internet

   • 2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreword", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xi

     [I]f you think the Internet existed in 1970, I can only guess that the education system has left at least one child behind.

3. (by extension, informal) The global community of individuals communicating via the Internet.
   • 2000 March 8, 32:26 from the start, in Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China‎, spoken by Bill Clinton, via C-SPAN, retrieved 17 June 2025:

     We know how much the Internet has changed America. And we are already an open society. Imagine how much it could change China. Now, there is no question – China has been trying to crack down on the Internet. Good luck. That's sort of like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.

   • 2024 November 4, Kate Lindsay, “Can We Please Not Politicize Peanut's Death?”, in Vulture‎, archived from the original on 24 November 2024:

     Not to be confused with the Josh Hutcherson Saturday Night Live sketch that's almost impossible to find online, the tragedy of Peanut, an Instagram-famous squirrel that was euthanized late last month, has sent the internet into mourning.

Usage notes

• When referring to the global internet, the proper noun was originally usually capitalised (Internet), reserving internet with a lowercase i for the common noun, referring to any other set of computer networks connected by internetworking; however, increasingly, the proper noun sense also takes a lowercase i. Compare similar examples in how the proper names for the Sun (the sun), the Moon (the moon), the Universe (the universe), and the World (the world) are variably capitalized in English orthography.
• The internet, the World Wide Web (the Web, the web), and cyberspace are often loosely treated as synonymous, but in careful usage, each of those terms has a more precise meaning, overlapping in a semantic field.

Derived terms

• break the Internet
• Internet feed
• Internet of Everything
• Internet of Things
• Internet Protocol
• Internet service provider
• Swatch Internet Time
• the Internet never forgets

Related terms

• extranet
• intranet

Translations

specific internet consisting of the global network of computers

Afrikaans: Internet (af) Albanian: ndërrjet m, internet m American Sign Language: Open8@Finger-TipUp-Open8@CenterChesthigh-TipUp Twist-Twist Amharic: ኢንተርኔት (ʾintärnet) Antillean Creole: entènèt Arabic: إِنْتَرْنَت (ar) m (ʔintarnat), شُبَّاكَة m (šubbāka) Armenian: ինտերնետ (hy) (internet), (somewhat formal) համացանց (hamacʻancʻ) Assamese: ইণ্টাৰনেট (intaronet) Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܦܪܵܣܢܵܘܠܵܐ m (prāsnāwlā), ܐܝܼܢܛܲܪܢܹܛ m (īnṭarnēṭ) Azerbaijani: internet Bashkir: интернет (internet) Basque: Internet, Sare Belarusian: інтэрнэ́т m (internét) Bengali: আন্তর্জাল (bn) (antorjal), ইন্টারনেট (bn) (inṭarneṭ) Breton: kenrouedad (br) f Bulgarian: И́нтернет m (Ínternet), Мре́жата f (Mréžata) (definite) Burmese: အင်တာနက် (my) (angtanak) Carpathian Rusyn: інтерне́т m (internét) Catalan: Internet (ca) f, xarxa (ca) f Central Dusun: internet Cherokee: ᎠᏏᎳᏕᏫᏒᎢ (asiladewisvi) Chinese: Cantonese: 互聯網 / 互联网 (wu6 lyun4 mong5), 網際網絡 / 网际网络 (mong5 zai3 mong5 lok6) Mandarin: 互聯網 / 互联网 (zh) (hùliánwǎng), 網絡 / 网络 (zh) (wǎngluò) (PRC), 網路 / 网路 (zh) (wǎnglù) (Taiwan), 因特網 / 因特网 (zh) (Yīntèwǎng), 網際網路 / 网际网路 (zh) (wǎngjì wǎnglù) (Taiwan) Chukchi: интернет (internet) Chuvash: тетел (tet̬el), интернет (int̬ernet) Cornish: kesrosweyth Corsican: Internet f Czech: Internet (cs) m Danish: internet (da) n Dinka: Arekwël Dutch: internet (nl) n Emilian: raid däl raid Esperanto: Interreto, reto (eo) (short form), interreta (attributive) Estonian: internet (et), Internet (et), nett (et), veeb, võrk Faroese: Alnetið n, Internet Finnish: Internet (fi), netti (fi) French: Internet (fr) m Galician: Internet f Georgian: ინტერნეტი (inṭerneṭi), ქსელი (ka) (kseli) German: Netz (de) n, Internet (de) n Central Franconian: Engornät Greek: Διαδίκτυο n (Diadíktyo), διαδίκτυο (el) n (diadíktyo), ίντερνετ (el) n (ínternet) Guaraní: Ñanduti Guasu, Momarandu Ñanduti Gujarati: આંતરજાળ (āntarjāḷ) Haitian Creole: entènèt Hausa: yanar gizo Hebrew: מִרְשֶׁתֶת (he) f (mirshétet), אִינְטֶרְנֶט (he) m (internet) Hindi: अंतर्जाल (antarjāl), इन्टरनेट m (inṭarneṭ) Hungarian: internet (hu), világháló (hu) Hunsrik: Internet n Icelandic: Veraldarvefurinn m, Internet (is) n, netið n Ido: Internet (io), Interreto (io), reto (io) (short form) Indonesian: Internet Interlingua: Internet Inuktitut: ᖃᕆᓴᐅᔭᒃᑯᑦ ᑎᑎᕋᖅᓯᒪᔪᑦ (qarisaoyakkot titiraqsimayot) Irish: Idirlíon (ga) m Italian: Internet (it) f Jamaican Creole: Intanet Japanese: インターネット (ja) (intānetto), ネット (ja) (netto) Kalmyk: сүлҗән (süljän) Kannada: ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲ (kn) (antarjāla), ಮಿಂಬಲೆ (kn) (mimbale) Kazakh: интернет (internet) Khmer: អ៊ីនធឺណិត (ʼiinthɨɨnət), អន្តរៈបណ្ដាញ (ʼɑntaʼraʼ bɑndaañ) Korean: 인터넷 (ko) (inteonet) (South Korea); 인터네트 (ko) (inteoneteu) (North Korea), 넷 (ko) (net), (rare) 누리망(網) (nurimang) Kyrgyz: интернет (ky) (internet) Lao: ອິນເຕີເນັດ (ʼin tœ̄ net) Latgalian: škārsteiklys Latin: interrete n Latvian: internets m, starptīkls m Lithuanian: internetas m, žiniatinklis m Low German: Dutch Low Saxon: draod, internet German Low German: Internet n (from English), Internett n, Nett n (short form) Macedonian: интернет m (internet), семрежје (mk) m (semrežje) Malay: Internet Malayalam: ഇന്റർനെറ്റ് (ml) (inṟaṟneṟṟŭ) Manx: Eddyr-voggyl Maori: ipurangi Marathi: आंतरजाल (āntarjāl), इंटरनेट (mr) n (iṇṭarneṭ) Mari: Eastern Mari: интернет (interńet) Mirandese: Anternete Mongolian: Cyrillic: интернэт (mn) (internet) Mongolian: ᠢᠨ᠋ᠲ᠋ᠧᠷᠨᠧᠲ (intērnēt) Navajo: Béésh Łichíiʼii Bee Ééhoozinígíí, hiiłos Nepali: अन्तरजाल (antarjāl), इन्टरनेट (ne) (inṭarneṭ) Norman: Enternette Norwegian: Bokmål: internett (no) n, Internett (no) n, nettet n (short form, with the definite article) Nynorsk: internett n, Internett n, nettet n (short form, with the definite article) Odia: ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ (iṇṭaraneṭa) Pashto: انټرنېټ m (inṭarneṭ) Persian: Dari: اِنْتَرْنیت (intarnēt) Iranian Persian: اینْتِرْنِت (internet) Piedmontese: Ragnà Plautdietsch: Internet n Polish: Internet (pl) m, międzysieć, Sieć (pl) f (colloquial) Portuguese: Internet (pt) f Punjabi: ਇੰਟਰਨੈੱਟ (pa) (iṇṭarnaiṭṭa) Quechua: T'inkinakusqa llikakuna Romagnol: raid däl raid Romanian: Internet (ro) n, net (ro) n Russian: интерне́т (ru) m (intɛrnɛ́t), сеть (ru) (setʹ) (informal) Sango: Gbândasango Santali: ᱚᱱᱛᱚᱨ ᱡᱟᱞᱟᱢ (ôntôr jalam) Scottish Gaelic: eadar-lìon m, Eadar-lìon m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: и̏нтернет m Roman: ȉnternet m Silesian: mjyndzynec m, internec m Sinhalese: අන්තර්ජාලය (si) (antarjālaya) Slovak: sieť f (informal), Internet m Slovene: medmrežje n Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: Internet m Upper Sorbian: Internet m Spanish: internet (es) m or f, red (es) f Swahili: intaneti (sw) Swedish: Internet (sv) n, nätet (sv) n (definite), internet (sv) n Tagalog: Internet Tajik: интернет (tg) (internet) Tamil: இணையம் (ta) (iṇaiyam) Tatar: пәрәвез (tt) (päräwez), интернет (internet) Telugu: ఇంటర్నెట్ (iṇṭarneṭ), అంతర్జాలము (te) (antarjālamu) Thai: อินเทอร์เน็ต (th) (in-təə-nèt) Tibetan: ཀུག་ཁུག་གུག་ངུག (kug khug gug ngug) Tigrinya: ኢንተርነት (ʾintärnät), መርበብ (ti) (märbäb) Turkish: İnternet (tr), genel ağ (tr) Turkmen: internet Udmurt: вотэс (votes) Ukrainian: інтерне́т m (internét) Urdu: اِنْٹَرْنیٹ f (inṭarneṭ), شَبَکَہ f (śabaka) Uyghur: ئىنتېرنېت (intërnët) Uzbek: internet (uz) Vietnamese: in-tơ-nét, mạng toàn cầu, liên mạng (vi), mạng (vi) Volapük: bevüresod, vüresod (short form), Bevüresod, Vüresod (short form) Võro: ilmavõrk Walloon: etrernete (wa) Welsh: rhyngrwyd (cy) f West Frisian: ynternet Xibe: ᡞᠨᡨᡝ ᠨᡝᠷᡨᡝ (inte nerte), , ᡞᠨ ᡨᡝ ᠸᠠᡢ ᠠᠰᡠᠷᠠᠨ (in te wang asuran) Yiddish: אינטערנעץ f (internets), אינטערנעט f (internet) Zhuang: hulenzvangj, vangjdoxlienz

References

• Internet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• renitent

Afrikaans

Etymology

Borrowed from English Internet.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Internet (uncountable)

1. the Internet

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from English Internet.

Proper noun

Internet m

1. Internet

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English Internet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.tərˌnɛt/
• Hyphenation: In‧ter‧net

Proper noun

Internet n

1. superseded spelling of internet

Finnish

Finnish Wikipedia has an article on:

Internet

Wikipedia ^fi

Alternative forms

• internet

Etymology

Borrowed from English Internet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈint(ː)ernet/, [ˈin̪t̪(ː)e̞rne̞t̪]
• Rhymes: -internet
• Syllabification^(key): In‧ter‧net
• Hyphenation^(key): In‧ter‧net

Proper noun

Internet

1. (Internet) the Internet

Declension

Inflection of Internet (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		Internet	—
genitive		Internetin	—
partitive		Internetiä	—
illative		Internetiin	—
		singular	plural
nominative		Internet	—
accusative	nom.	Internet	—
	gen.	Internetin
genitive		Internetin	—
partitive		Internetiä	—
inessive		Internetissä	—
elative		Internetistä	—
illative		Internetiin	—
adessive		Internetillä	—
ablative		Internetiltä	—
allative		Internetille	—
essive		Internetinä	—
translative		Internetiksi	—
abessive		Internetittä	—
instructive		—	—
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of Internet (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Internetini — accusative nom. Internetini — gen. Internetini genitive Internetini — partitive Internetiäni — inessive Internetissäni — elative Internetistäni — illative Internetiini — adessive Internetilläni — ablative Internetiltäni — allative Internetilleni — essive Internetinäni — translative Internetikseni — abessive Internetittäni — instructive — — comitative — — second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Internetisi — accusative nom. Internetisi — gen. Internetisi genitive Internetisi — partitive Internetiäsi — inessive Internetissäsi — elative Internetistäsi — illative Internetiisi — adessive Internetilläsi — ablative Internetiltäsi — allative Internetillesi — essive Internetinäsi — translative Internetiksesi — abessive Internetittäsi — instructive — — comitative — — first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Internetimme — accusative nom. Internetimme — gen. Internetimme genitive Internetimme — partitive Internetiämme — inessive Internetissämme — elative Internetistämme — illative Internetiimme — adessive Internetillämme — ablative Internetiltämme — allative Internetillemme — essive Internetinämme — translative Internetiksemme — abessive Internetittämme — instructive — — comitative — — second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Internetinne — accusative nom. Internetinne — gen. Internetinne genitive Internetinne — partitive Internetiänne — inessive Internetissänne — elative Internetistänne — illative Internetiinne — adessive Internetillänne — ablative Internetiltänne — allative Internetillenne — essive Internetinänne — translative Internetiksenne — abessive Internetittänne — instructive — — comitative — — third-person possessor singular plural nominative Internetinsä — accusative nom. Internetinsä — gen. Internetinsä genitive Internetinsä — partitive Internetiään Internetiänsä — inessive Internetissään Internetissänsä — elative Internetistään Internetistänsä — illative Internetiinsä — adessive Internetillään Internetillänsä — ablative Internetiltään Internetiltänsä — allative Internetilleen Internetillensä — essive Internetinään Internetinänsä — translative Internetikseen Internetiksensä — abessive Internetittään Internetittänsä — instructive — — comitative — —

Synonyms

• netti
• (imprecisely) verkko (“Web”), www
• (colloquially, imprecisely) veppi, weppi, webbi

French

French Wikipedia has an article on:

Internet

Wikipedia ^fr

Etymology

Borrowed from English Internet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.nɛt/

• Audio (France (Paris)):

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Internet m

1. the Internet

   Synonyms: internet, Net

Usage notes

Generally used without the definite article in French, unlike English; thus "on the Internet" in French is sur Internet.

German

German Wikipedia has an article on:

Internet

Wikipedia ^de

Etymology

Borrowed from English Internet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪntɐnɛt/

• Audio (Germany):

  (file)

Noun

Internet n (strong, genitive Internets or Internet, no plural)

1. internet

Usage notes

• While the genitive Internet is often seen, the more Germanic Internets is more frequently used. For example:

  Der Einfluss des Internets nimmt weiter zu.

  The influence of the internet continues to grow.

Declension

Declension of Internet [sg-only, neuter, strong]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Internet
genitive	eines	des	Internets, Internet
dative	einem	dem	Internet
accusative	ein	das	Internet

Derived terms

• Internet der Dinge

Further reading

• “Internet” in Duden online
• “Internet” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Hunsrik

Etymology

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese Internet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /intəˈnet/
• Rhymes: -et
• Syllabification: In‧ter‧net

Noun

Internet n

1. Internet (the global network of computers)

   Ich hon’s im Internet gesihn.

   I've seen it on the internet.

2. internet (Internet access or connection)

References

• Piter Kehoma Boll (2021), “Internet”, in Dicionário Hunsriqueano Riograndense–Português (in Portuguese), 3rd edition, Ivoti: Riograndenser Hunsrickisch, page 83, column 1

Icelandic

Icelandic Wikipedia has an article on:

Internet

Wikipedia ^is

Etymology

Borrowed from English Internet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪn̥tɛrˌnɛːt/

Proper noun

Internet n (proper noun, genitive singular Internets)

1. (usually definite) the Internet

   Synonyms: net, alnet, lýðnet

Declension

Declension of Internet (sg-only neuter)

	singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	Internet	Internetið
accusative	Internet	Internetið
dative	Interneti	Internetinu
genitive	Internets	Internetsins

See also

• veraldarvefur (“World Wide Web”)