Emacs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A highly extensible text editor program originally developed for Unix-like operating systems and popular with programmers
2. A customizable computer program for writing and editing text and source code, long favored by software developers
3. An open-source editing application known for its keyboard-driven commands and its ability to be extended with add-on code

Etymology: Emacs is a blend of "editor" and "macros," and its name points to the programming language it was built around. The editor's core idea was a set of macro instructions, which let a user bundle many keystrokes into one command. The "macros" half of the name is a shortened form of "macroinstructions," itself built from the Greek "makros," meaning "long," plus the Latin "instructio," meaning "a building up" or "arrangement." The "editor" half comes from Latin "ēditor," a producer or publisher, which traces back to "ex," "out," and "dare," "to give." The blend is the notable part. Writers coined words like this by fusing two words into one, and the result packs both ideas into a single name. Here the two halves describe the tool's purpose and its method, making the name a compact summary of what the program does.