Identifiers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A collection of designators that serve to uniquely distinguish specific entities, items, or data points in diverse settings
2. Symbols or names utilized to distinctly label and recognize individuals, objects, or particular data within various domains
3. Sets of characters or codes used to specifically identify persons, objects, or pieces of information across different fields

Etymology: The word is a plural, so its history lies in the singular "identifier," which is simply "identify" with the agentive suffix "-er" attached. "Identify" itself came from the Latin "identificare," built from "idem," meaning "the same," and "-ficare," from "facere," to make. To identify something was literally to make it the same as something already known, to show that a thing is what it claims to be. The suffix did most of the work in forming the noun. English "-er" descends from Old English "-ere," which marked a person or thing that does an action, and it had entered Middle English from the Old French "-ier," itself from Latin "-arius." The result, "identifier," is a plain, transparent formation: whatever performs the act of identifying. Its meaning has since moved from people to objects and codes, which is why the term now refers to the tags, numbers and strings that pick out one item among many.

Synonyms: labels, tags, markers