the.com/hashtag
A symbol that demoted itself from math operator to internet town crier.
means A word or phrase preceded by the # symbol that labels a social-media post so others can find it by topic.
from A blend of "hash" (the long-standing name for the # sign) and "tag" (a label or marker). The # symbol itself goes back centuries with many names — pound sign, number sign, octothorpe — but its modern social life began on Twitter around 2007, when user Chris Messina suggested using # to group messages. "Hashtag," the name for the practice, caught on shortly after.
- old name
- Once called the octothorpe, possibly mocking Olympian Jim Thorpe
- first tweet
- Suggested by Chris Messina in 2007, ignored by Twitter staff
- phone keys
- Lived quietly on touch-tone pads since the 1960s
- pound sign
- Derived from lb, the abbreviation for the Latin libra