Google (verb)

Transitive verb, to search using Google

This article is about the verb. For the use of the verb in cricket, see Googly. For other uses, see Google (disambiguation).

"Googled" redirects here. For the book of the same name, see Googled: The End of the World as We Know It.

Look up Google in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The act of using an online search engine is known colloquially as googling.

Owing to the dominance of the Google search engine,[1] to google has become a transitive verb.[2] The neologism commonly refers to searching for information on the World Wide Web, typically using the Google search engine.[3] The American Dialect Society chose it as the "most useful word of 2002".[4] It was added to the Oxford English Dictionary on June 15, 2006,[5] and to the eleventh edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary in July 2006.[6]

## Etymology

[edit]

The first recorded usage of google was as a gerund, on July 8, 1998, by Google co-founder Larry Page himself, who wrote on a mailing list: "Have fun and keep googling!".[7] Its earliest known use as an explicitly transitive verb on American television was in the "Help" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (October 15, 2002), when Willow asked Buffy, "Have you googled her yet?".[8]

To prevent genericizing and potential loss of its trademark, Google has discouraged use of the word as a verb, particularly when used as a synonym for general web searching. On February 23, 2003,[9] Google sent a cease and desist letter to Paul McFedries, creator of Word Spy, a website that tracks neologisms.[10] In an article in The Washington Post, Frank Ahrens discussed the letter he received from a Google lawyer that demonstrated "appropriate" and "inappropriate" ways to use the verb "google".[11]

It was reported that, in response to this concern, lexicographers for the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary turned to lowercase the actual entry of the word, google. And, they maintained the capitalization of the search engine in their definition, "to use the Google search engine to seek online information" (a concern which did not deter the Oxford editors from preserving the history of both "cases").[12] On October 25, 2006, Google sent a request to the public requesting that "You should please only use 'Google' when you're actually referring to Google Inc. and our services."[13]

Ungoogleable means it is something that cannot be "googled" – i.e. it cannot be easily found using a web search engine, especially Google.[14] If a word or phrase is ungoogleable, it means it cannot be googled. In 2013, the Swedish Language Council attempted to include the Swedish version of the word (Ogooglebar [sv]) in its list of new words, but Google objected to the definition not being specifically related to Google, and the council was forced to remove it immediately to avoid a legal confrontation with Google.[15][16]

## See also

[edit]

* Internet portal

* grep
* Photoshop (verb), a similar neologism referring to digital photo editing

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Burns, Enid (June 19, 2007). "Top 10 Search Providers, April 2007". SearchEngineWatch.com. Archived from the original on August 25, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007.
2. ^ "Google - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary". Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
3. ^ "How Google Became a Verb". The Lingua File - The Language Blog. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
4. ^ "2002 Words of the Year". American Dialect Society. January 13, 2003. Retrieved August 11, 2007.
5. ^ Bylund, Anders (July 5, 2006). "To Google or Not to Google". The Motley Fool. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
6. ^ Harris, Scott D. (July 7, 2006). "Dictionary adds verb: to google". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on February 6, 2007. Retrieved July 7, 2006.
7. ^ Page, Larry (July 8, 1998). "Google Search Engine: New Features". Google Friends Mailing List. Archived from the original on October 9, 1999. Retrieved August 6, 2007.
8. ^ Arthur, Charles (2012). Digital Wars: Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Battle for the Internet. Kogan Page Publishers. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-7494-6413-4. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
9. ^ McFedries, Paul (February 23, 2003). "Google trademark concerns". American Dialect Society Mailing List. Archived from the original on July 3, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007.
10. ^ Duffy, Jonathan (June 20, 2003). "Google calls in the 'language police'". BBC News. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
11. ^ Frank Ahrens (August 5, 2006). "So Google Is No Brand X, but What Is 'Genericide'?". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2006.
12. ^ Noon, Chris (July 6, 2006). "Brin, Page See 'Google' Take Its Place In Dictionary". Forbes. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
13. ^ Krantz, Michael (October 25, 2006). "Do you "Google?"". The Official Google Blog. Retrieved August 11, 2007.
14. ^ "Who, What, Why: What is 'ungoogleable'?". BBC News Magazine. BBC. March 27, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
15. ^ Fanning, Sean (March 26, 2013). "Google gets ungoogleable off Sweden's new word list". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
16. ^ Williams, Rob (March 26, 2013). "'Ungoogleable' removed from list of Swedish words after row over definition with Google: California based search engine giant asked Swedish to amend definition". The Independent. Retrieved April 5, 2013.

* v
* t
* e

Google

a subsidiary of Alphabet

Company

| Divisions|

* AI
* Area 120
* ATAP
* Brain
* China
* Cloud Platform
* Energy
* Google.org
* Crisis Response
* Health
* Registry

|

Subsidiaries|

| Active|

* DeepMind
* Fitbit
* ITA Software
* Jigsaw
* Looker
* Mandiant
* Security Operations
* Owlchemy Labs

|

Defunct|

* Actifio
* Adscape
* Akwan Information Technologies
* Anvato
* Apigee
* BandPage
* Bitium
* BufferBox
* Crashlytics
* Dodgeball
* DoubleClick
* Dropcam
* Endoxon
* Flutter
* Global IP Solutions
* Green Throttle Games
* GreenBorder
* Gridcentric
* ImageAmerica
* Impermium
* Invite Media
* Kaltix
* Marratech
* Meebo
* Metaweb
* Neotonic Software
* Neverware
* Nik Software
* Orbitera
* Pyra Labs
* Quest Visual
* Reqwireless
* RightsFlow
* Sidewalk Labs
* SlickLogin
* Titan Aerospace
* Typhoon Studios
* Urban Engines
* Vicarious
* Viewdle
* Wavii
* Wildfire Interactive
* YouTube Next Lab and Audience Development Group

Programs|

* Business Groups
* Computing University Initiative
* Contact Lens
* Content ID
* CrossCheck
* Data Liberation Front
* Data Transfer Project
* Developer Expert
* DigiKavach
* DigiPivot
* Digital Garage
* Digital News Initiative
* Digital Unlocked
* Dragonfly
* Founders' Award
* Free Zone
* Get Your Business Online
* Google for Education
* Google for Startups
* Living Stories
* Made with Code
* News Lab
* PowerMeter
* Privacy Sandbox
* Project Nightingale
* Project Nimbus
* Project Sunroof
* Project Zero
* Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab
* RechargeIT
* Sensorvault
* Silicon Initiative
* Solve for X
* Street View Trusted
* Student Ambassador Program
* Vevo
* YouTube BrandConnect
* YouTube Creator Awards
* YouTube Select
* YouTube Original Channel Initiative
* Year in Search
* YouTube Rewind
* 2018
* 2019

Events|

* AlphaGo versus Fan Hui
* AlphaGo versus Lee Sedol
* AlphaGo versus Ke Jie
* Android Developer Challenge
* Android Developer Day
* Android Developer Lab
* CNN/YouTube presidential debates
* Code-in
* Code Jam
* Developer Day
* Developers Live
* Doodle4Google
* Future of Go Summit
* G-Day
* Hash Code
* I/O
* Lunar X Prize
* Mapathon
* Science Fair
* Summer of Code
* World Chess Championship 2024
* YouTube Awards
* YouTube Comedy Week
* YouTube Live
* YouTube Music Awards
* 2013
* 2015
* YouTube Space Lab
* YouTube Symphony Orchestra

Infrastructure|

* 111 Eighth Avenue
* Android lawn statues
* Androidland
* Barges
* Binoculars Building
* Central Saint Giles
* Chelsea Market
* Chrome Zone
* Data centers
* GeoEye-1
* Googleplex
* Ivanpah Solar Power Facility
* James R. Thompson Center
* King's Cross
* Mayfield Mall
* Pier 57
* Sidewalk Toronto
* St. John's Terminal
* Submarine cables
* Dunant
* Grace Hopper
* Unity
* WiFi
* YouTube Space
* YouTube Theater

People|

| Current|

* Krishna Bharat
* Vint Cerf
* Jeff Dean
* John Doerr
* Sanjay Ghemawat
* Al Gore
* John L. Hennessy
* Urs Hölzle
* Salar Kamangar
* Ray Kurzweil
* Ann Mather
* Alan Mulally
* Rick Osterloh
* Sundar Pichai (CEO)
* Ruth Porat (CFO)
* Rajen Sheth
* Hal Varian
* Neal Mohan

|

Former|

* Andy Bechtolsheim
* Sergey Brin (co-founder)
* David Cheriton
* Matt Cutts
* David Drummond
* Alan Eustace
* Timnit Gebru
* Omid Kordestani
* Paul Otellini
* Larry Page (co-founder)
* Patrick Pichette
* Eric Schmidt
* Ram Shriram
* Amit Singhal
* Shirley M. Tilghman
* Rachel Whetstone
* Susan Wojcicki

Criticism|

| General|

* Censorship
* DeGoogle
* FairSearch
* "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber"
* No Tech for Apartheid
* Privacy concerns
* Street View
* YouTube
* Trade unions
* Alphabet Workers Union
* YouTube copyright issues

|

Incidents|

* Backdoor advertisement controversy
* Blocking of YouTube videos in Germany
* Data breach
* Elsagate
* Fantastic Adventures scandal
* Kohistan video case
* Reactions to Innocence of Muslims
* San Francisco tech bus protests
* Services outages
* Slovenian government incident
* Walkouts
* YouTube headquarters shooting

Other|

* Android apps
* April Fools' Day jokes
* Doodles
* Doodle Champion Island Games
* Magic Cat Academy
* Easter eggs
* History
* Gmail
* Search
* YouTube
* Logo
* Material Design
* Mergers and acquisitions

Development

| Software|

| A–C|

* Accelerated Linear Algebra
* AMP
* Actions on Google
* ALTS
* American Fuzzy Lop
* Android Cloud to Device Messaging
* Android Debug Bridge
* Android NDK
* Android Runtime
* Android SDK
* Android Studio
* Angular
* AngularJS
* Apache Beam
* APIs
* App Engine
* App Inventor
* App Maker
* App Runtime for Chrome
* AppJet
* Apps Script
* AppSheet
* ARCore
* Base
* Bazel
* BeyondCorp
* Bigtable
* BigQuery
* Bionic
* Blockly
* Borg
* Caja
* Cameyo
* Chart API
* Charts
* Chrome Frame
* Chromium
* Blink
* Closure Tools
* Cloud Connect
* Cloud Dataflow
* Cloud Datastore
* Cloud Messaging
* Cloud Shell
* Cloud Storage
* Code Search
* Compute Engine
* Cpplint

|

D–N|

* Dalvik
* Data Protocol
* Dialogflow
* Exposure Notification
* Fast Pair
* Fastboot
* Federated Learning of Cohorts
* File System
* Firebase
* Firebase Studio
* Firebase Cloud Messaging
* FlatBuffers
* Flutter
* Freebase
* Gadgets
* Ganeti
* Gears
* Gerrit
* GLOP
* gRPC
* Gson
* Guava
* Guetzli
* Guice
* gVisor
* GYP
* JAX
* Jetpack Compose
* Keyhole Markup Language
* Kubernetes
* Kythe
* LevelDB
* Lighthouse
* Looker Studio
* lmctfy
* MapReduce
* Mashup Editor
* Matter
* Mobile Services
* Namebench
* Native Client
* Neatx
* Neural Machine Translation
* Nomulus

O–Z|

* Open Location Code
* OpenRefine
* OpenSocial
* Optimize
* OR-Tools
* Pack
* PageSpeed
* Piper
* Plugin for Eclipse
* Polymer
* Programmable Search Engine
* Project Shield
* Public DNS
* reCAPTCHA
* RenderScript
* SafetyNet
* SageTV
* Schema.org
* Search Console
* Shell
* Sitemaps
* Skia Graphics Engine
* Spanner
* Sputnik
* Stackdriver
* Swiffy
* Tango
* TensorFlow
* Tesseract
* Test
* Translator Toolkit
* Urchin
* UTM parameters
* V8
* VirusTotal
* VisBug
* Wave Federation Protocol
* Weave
* Web Accelerator
* Web Designer
* Web Server
* Web Toolkit
* Webdriver Torso
* WebRTC

Operating systems|

* Android
* Cupcake
* Donut
* Eclair
* Froyo
* Gingerbread
* Honeycomb
* Ice Cream Sandwich
* Jelly Bean
* KitKat
* Lollipop
* Marshmallow
* Nougat
* Oreo
* Pie
* 10
* 11
* 12
* 13
* 14
* 15
* 16
* version history
* smartphones
* Android Automotive
* Android Go
* devices
* Android Things
* Android TV
* devices
* Android XR
* ChromeOS
* ChromeOS Flex
* ChromiumOS
* Fuchsia
* Glass OS
* gLinux
* Goobuntu
* TV
* Wear OS

Machine learning models|

* BERT
* Chinchilla
* DreamBooth
* Gemini
* Imagen (2023)
* LaMDA
* PaLM
* T5
* Veo (text-to-video model)
* VideoPoet
* XLNet

Neural networks|

* EfficientNet
* Gato
* Inception
* MobileNet
* Transformer
* WaveNet

Computer programs|

* AlphaDev
* AlphaFold
* AlphaGeometry
* AlphaGo
* AlphaGo Zero
* AlphaStar
* AlphaZero
* Master
* MuZero

Formats and codecs|

* AAB
* APK
* AV1
* iLBC
* iSAC
* libvpx
* Lyra
* Protocol Buffers
* Ultra HDR
* VP3
* VP6
* VP8
* VP9
* WebM
* WebP
* WOFF2

Programming languages|

* Carbon
* Dart
* Go
* Sawzall

Search algorithms|

* Googlebot
* Hummingbird
* Mobilegeddon
* PageRank
* matrix
* Panda
* Penguin
* Pigeon
* RankBrain

Domain names|

* .app
* .dev
* .google
* .zip
* g.co
* google.by

Typefaces|

* Croscore
* Noto
* Product Sans
* Roboto

Software

| A|

* Aardvark
* Account
* Dashboard
* Takeout
* Ad Manager
* AdMob
* Ads
* AdSense
* Affiliate Network
* Alerts
* Allo
* Analytics
* Android Auto
* Android Beam
* Answers
* Apture
* Arts & Culture
* Assistant
* Attribution
* Authenticator

|

* BebaPay
* BeatThatQuote.com
* Beam
* Blog Search
* Blogger
* Body
* Bookmarks
* Books
* Ngram Viewer
* Browser Sync
* Building Maker
* Bump
* BumpTop
* Buzz

* Calendar
* Cast
* Catalogs
* Chat
* Checkout
* Chrome
* Chrome Apps
* Chrome Experiments
* Chrome Remote Desktop
* Chrome Web Store
* Classroom
* Cloud Print
* Cloud Search
* Contacts
* Contributor
* Crowdsource
* Currents (social app)
* Currents (news app)

* Data Commons
* Dataset Search
* Desktop
* Dictionary
* Digital Wellbeing
* Dinosaur Game
* Directory
* Docs
* Docs Editors
* Domains
* Drawings
* Drive
* Duo

* Earth
* Etherpad
* Expeditions
* Express

* Family Link
* Fast Flip
* FeedBurner
* fflick
* Fi Wireless
* Finance
* Files
* Find Hub
* Fit
* Flights
* Flu Trends
* Fonts
* Forms
* Friend Connect
* Fusion Tables

* Gboard
* Gemini
* Gesture Search
* Gizmo5
* Google+
* Gmail
* Goggles
* GOOG-411
* Grasshopper
* Groups

* Hangouts
* Helpouts

* iGoogle
* Images
* Image Labeler
* Image Swirl
* Inbox by Gmail
* Input Tools
* Japanese Input
* Pinyin
* Insights for Search

* Jaiku
* Jamboard

* Kaggle
* Keep
* Knol

* Labs
* Latitude
* Lens
* Like.com
* Live Transcribe
* Lively

* Map Maker
* Maps
* Maps Navigation
* Marketing Platform
* Meet
* Messages
* Moderator
* My Tracks

* Nearby Share
* News
* News & Weather
* News Archive
* Notebook
* NotebookLM
* Now

* Offers
* One
* One Pass
* Opinion Rewards
* Orkut
* Oyster

* Panoramio
* PaperofRecord.com
* Patents
* Page Creator
* Pay (mobile app)
* Pay (payment method)
* Pay Send
* People Cards
* Person Finder
* Personalized Search
* Photomath
* Photos
* Picasa
* Picasa Web Albums
* Picnik
* Pixel Camera
* Play
* Play Books
* Play Games
* Play Music
* Play Newsstand
* Play Pass
* Play Services
* Podcasts
* Poly
* Postini
* PostRank
* Primer
* Public Alerts
* Public Data Explorer

* Question Hub
* Quick, Draw!
* Quick Search Box
* Quick Share
* Quickoffice

* Read Along
* Reader
* Reply

* Safe Browsing
* SageTV
* Santa Tracker
* Schemer
* Scholar
* Search
* AI Overviews
* Knowledge Graph
* SafeSearch
* Searchwiki
* Sheets
* Shoploop
* Shopping
* Sidewiki
* Sites
* Slides
* Snapseed
* Socratic
* Softcard
* Songza
* Sound Amplifier
* Spaces
* Sparrow (chatbot)
* Sparrow (email client)
* Speech Recognition & Synthesis
* Squared
* Stadia
* Station
* Store
* Street View
* Surveys
* Sync

* Tables
* Talk
* TalkBack
* Tasks
* Tenor
* Tez
* Tilt Brush
* Toolbar
* Toontastic 3D
* Translate
* Travel
* Trendalyzer
* Trends
* TV

* URL Shortener

* Video
* Vids
* Voice
* Voice Access
* Voice Search

* Wallet
* Wave
* Waze
* WDYL
* Web Light
* Where Is My Train
* Widevine
* Wiz
* Word Lens
* Workspace
* Workspace Marketplace

* YouTube
* YouTube Kids
* YouTube Music
* YouTube Premium
* YouTube Shorts
* YouTube Studio
* YouTube TV
* YouTube VR

Hardware

| Pixel|

| Smartphones|

* Pixel (2016)
* Pixel 2 (2017)
* Pixel 3 (2018)
* Pixel 3a (2019)
* Pixel 4 (2019)
* Pixel 4a (2020)
* Pixel 5 (2020)
* Pixel 5a (2021)
* Pixel 6 (2021)
* Pixel 6a (2022)
* Pixel 7 (2022)
* Pixel 7a (2023)
* Pixel Fold (2023)
* Pixel 8 (2023)
* Pixel 8a (2024)
* Pixel 9 (2024)
* Pixel 9 Pro Fold (2024)
* Pixel 9a (2025)

|

Smartwatches|

* Pixel Watch (2022)
* Pixel Watch 2 (2023)
* Pixel Watch 3 (2024)

Tablets|

* Pixel C (2015)
* Pixel Slate (2018)
* Pixel Tablet (2023)

Laptops|

* Chromebook Pixel (2013–2015)
* Pixelbook (2017)
* Pixelbook Go (2019)

Other|

* Pixel Buds (2017–present)

Nexus|

| Smartphones|

* Nexus One (2010)
* Nexus S (2010)
* Galaxy Nexus (2011)
* Nexus 4 (2012)
* Nexus 5 (2013)
* Nexus 6 (2014)
* Nexus 5X (2015)
* Nexus 6P (2015)

|

Tablets|

* Nexus 7 (2012)
* Nexus 10 (2012)
* Nexus 7 (2013)
* Nexus 9 (2014)

Other|

* Nexus Q (2012)
* Nexus Player (2014)

Other|

* Android Dev Phone
* Android One
* Cardboard
* Chromebit
* Chromebook
* Chromebox
* Chromecast
* Clips
* Daydream
* Fitbit
* Glass
* Liftware
* Liquid Galaxy
* Nest
* smart speakers
* Thermostat
* Wifi
* Play Edition
* Project Ara
* OnHub
* Pixel Visual Core
* Project Iris
* Search Appliance
* Sycamore processor
* Tensor
* Tensor Processing Unit
* Titan Security Key

* v
* t
* e

Litigation

Advertising|

* Feldman v. Google, Inc. (2007)
* Rescuecom Corp. v. Google Inc. (2009)
* Goddard v. Google, Inc. (2009)
* Rosetta Stone Ltd. v. Google, Inc. (2012)
* Google, Inc. v. American Blind & Wallpaper Factory, Inc. (2017)
* Jedi Blue

Antitrust|

* European Union (2010–present)
* United States v. Adobe Systems, Inc., Apple Inc., Google Inc., Intel Corporation, Intuit, Inc., and Pixar (2011)
* Umar Javeed, Sukarma Thapar, Aaqib Javeed vs. Google LLC and Ors. (2019)
* United States v. Google LLC (2020)
* United States v. Google LLC (2023)

Intellectual
property|

* Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc. (2007)
* Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. (2010)
* Lenz v. Universal Music Corp.(2015)
* Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc. (2015)
* Field v. Google, Inc. (2016)
* Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. (2021)
* Smartphone patent wars

Privacy|

* Rocky Mountain Bank v. Google, Inc. (2009)
* Hibnick v. Google, Inc. (2010)
* United States v. Google Inc. (2012)
* Judgement of the German Federal Court of Justice on Google's autocomplete function (2013)
* Joffe v. Google, Inc. (2013)
* Mosley v SARL Google (2013)
* Google Spain v AEPD and Mario Costeja González (2014)
* Frank v. Gaos (2019)

Other|

* Garcia v. Google, Inc. (2015)
* Google LLC v Defteros (2020)
* Epic Games v. Google (2021)
* Gonzalez v. Google LLC (2022)

Related

| Concepts|

* Beauty YouTuber
* BookTube
* BreadTube
* "Don't be evil"
* Gayglers
* Google as a verb
* Google bombing
* 2004 U.S. presidential election
* Google effect
* Googlefight
* Google hacking
* Googleshare
* Google tax
* Googlewhack
* Googlization
* Illegal flower tribute
* Objectives and key results
* Rooting
* Search engine manipulation effect
* Side project time
* Sitelink
* Site reliability engineering
* StudyTube
* VTuber
* YouTube Poop
* YouTuber
* list

|

Products|

| Android|

* Booting process
* Custom distributions
* Features
* Recovery mode
* Software development

|

Street View coverage|

* Africa
* Antarctica
* Asia
* Israel
* Europe
* North America
* Canada
* United States
* Oceania
* South America
* Argentina
* Chile
* Colombia

YouTube|

* Copyright strike
* Education
* Features
* Moderation
* Most-disliked videos
* Most-liked videos
* Most-subscribed channels
* Most-viewed channels
* Most-viewed videos
* Arabic music videos
* Chinese music videos
* French music videos
* Indian videos
* Pakistani videos
* Official channel
* Social impact
* YouTube Premium original programming

Other|

* Gmail interface
* Maps pin
* Most downloaded Google Play applications
* Stadia games

Documentaries|

* AlphaGo
* Google: Behind the Screen
* Google Maps Road Trip
* Google and the World Brain
* The Creepy Line

Books|

* Google Hacks
* The Google Story
* Google Volume One
* Googled: The End of the World as We Know It
* How Google Works
* I'm Feeling Lucky
* In the Plex
* The Google Book
* The MANIAC

Popular culture|

* Google Feud
* Google Me (film)
* "Google Me" (Kim Zolciak song)
* "Google Me" (Teyana Taylor song)
* Is Google Making Us Stupid?
* Proceratium google
* Matt Nathanson: Live at Google
* The Billion Dollar Code
* The Internship
* Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego?

Other|

* "Attention Is All You Need"
* elgooG
* Generative pre-trained transformer
* "Me at the zoo"
* Predictions of the end
* Relationship with Wikipedia
* "Reunion"
* Robot Constitution

Italics denote discontinued products.

* Category
* Outline

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template