text

Etymology

From Middle English text, from Old French texte (“text”), from Medieval Latin textus (“the Scriptures, text, treatise”), from Latin textus (“style or texture of a work”), perfect passive participle of texō (“I weave”). Cognate to English texture.

Pronunciation

• enPR: tĕkst, IPA^(key): /tɛkst/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkst
• Hyphenation: text

Noun

text (countable and uncountable, plural texts)

1. A writing consisting of multiple glyphs, characters, symbols or sentences.
2. A book, tome or other set of writings.
3. (colloquial) A brief written message transmitted between mobile phones.

   Synonym: text message

4. (computing) Data which can be interpreted as human-readable text.

   Antonym: binary

   Coordinate term: plain text

5. A verse or passage of Scripture, especially one chosen as the subject of a sermon, or in proof of a doctrine.
6. (by extension) Anything chosen as the subject of an argument, literary composition, etc.

   Synonyms: topic, theme

7. (printing) A style of writing in large characters; also, a kind of type used in printing.

   Synonym: text hand

   German text

Verb

text (third-person singular simple present texts, present participle texting, simple past and past participle texted or (colloquial) text)

1. (transitive) To send a text message to; i.e. to transmit text using the Short Message Service (SMS), or a similar service, between communications devices, particularly mobile phones.

   Synonyms: message, (UK) SMS

   Just text me when you get here.

   I'll text the address to you as soon as I find it.

2. (intransitive) To send and receive text messages.

   Have you been texting all afternoon?

3. (dated) To write in large characters, as in text hand.
   • 1607–21, Phillip Massinger, Beaumont and Fletcher, The Tragedy of Thierry and Theodoret, act 2, scene 1:

     I wish / (Next to my part of Heav'n) that she would spend / The last part of her life so here, that all / Indifferent judges might condemn me for / A most malicious slanderer, nay, text it / Upon my forehead

   • 2009, Lain Fenlon, Early Music History: Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Music‎ (Music), Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page p. 223:

     The basic plan is simple. For the first two phrases the texted line is above the untexted; for the next two, bring us to the midpoint cadence, the texted line is for the most part lower; and the in the second half the texted material starts lower, moves into the upper position and finally occupies the bottom range again.

Further reading

• Text in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• “text”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• text in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “text”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.