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The name Wikipedia is one of several different related terms based on the words wiki and encyclopedia. These terms may be easily confused due to their similarity, although each of them refer to a specific project, product or entities. This article explains the meanings and inter-relationships of those terms (chronologically).
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Before Wikipedia
- WikiWikiWeb, developed in 1994 by Ward Cunningham, is the first wiki software ever written. Ward named his software after the Wiki Wiki Shuttle, a shuttle bus line that runs between the Honolulu International Airport's terminals in Hawaii
- Wiki, a website powered by a wiki engine (or wiki software), the term derived from the first wiki engine previously cited. The term wiki sometimes also refer to the wiki software itself.
- Nupedia, (March 2000-September 2003) a defunct English-language online encyclopedia project founded by Jimmy Wales and underwritten by its company Bomis, with Larry Sanger as editor-in-chief. The name is a portmanteau of the words new and encyclopedia.
Wikipedia, Wikimedia, MediaWiki and LittleWiki
- Wikipedia, (January 2001), the name is a portmanteau of the words wiki and encyclopedia and was coined by Larry Sanger. The project was originally a feeder for Nupedia
- Wikimedia Foundation, the foundation that owns Wikipedia, (March 2003), the name is a portmanteau of the words wiki and media and was Loaded by Sheldon Rampton. The organization was founded in June 2003. The name has been criticized for its similarity to the name of Wikipedia.citation needed
- MediaWiki, the software that Wikipedia runs on, (June 2003), the name is a play on the name of the Foundation and was coined by Daniel Mayer
Pronunciation
| Accent | Audio | IPA | SAMPA | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RP | Audio (UK) | /ˌwɪkɪˈpiːdɪə/ | /%wIkI"pi:dI@/ | enPR: wĭ'kē-pēʹdē-ə |
| US | Audio (US) | /ˌwɪkiˈpiːdiə/ | /%wIki"pi:di@/ | enPR: wĭ'kē-pēʹdē-ə |
Other pronunciations include ˌwɪkɨˈpiːdiə, /ˌwiːkiˈpiːdiə/, /ˌwɪkiˈpiːdiə/, and /ˌwiːkiˈpeɪdiə/ and also Template:W£:ke'pedia/
Wikimedia projects/websites
All the projects of the Wikimedia Foundation have a name being a portmanteau of two words: wiki and the second describing the nature of the project. Except Wikipedia and Wiktionary, these projects were all launched after the foundation of Wikimedia:
- MediaWiki at www.mediawiki.org (Main Page), is a wiki-based web site that is for the foundations' software, software development, and support of both foundation projects and non-foundation wiki's using the mediawiki PHP based software system.
- Meta, or Wikimedia Foundation's Meta-Wiki, at meta.wikimedia.org, is a wiki-based web site that is auxiliary for coordination of all the foundation's official projects.
Originally focused on the English language version of Wikipedia, Meta has, since its upgrade to Wikipedia's custom MediaWiki software, become a multilingual discussion forum used by all Wikimedia language communities. - Wikibooks, a collection of free books and manuals
- Wikijunior, a collection of free books for children (subproject of Wikibooks)
- Wikiquote, a quotation repository
- Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia
- Wikisource, a collection of free source texts
- Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free media (images, audios, videos)
- Wikispecies, a directory of species data
- Wikinews, a news source wiki
- Wikiversity, an educational, self-study wiki
- Wiktionary, a free dictionary
There also other Wikis (Doctor Who Wiki, Wookieepedia etc.)
See also
| Wikipedia does not have an encyclopedia article for Wikipedia (terminology). You may want to search Wiktionary for "Wikipedian" instead for a dictionary entry. |  |
- Wikipedians - a partial index of Wikipedians