Wikimedia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and other free-content knowledge projects online
2. A foundation that hosts and runs Wikipedia along with related collaborative encyclopedias and reference sites
3. The charitable group behind Wikipedia, which supports open online projects that anyone can edit and share

Etymology: Wikimedia is a compound of "wiki" and "media", and the "wiki" part has a surprising origin. It comes from Hawaiian "wikiwiki", meaning "quick" or "hurry", and Ward Cunningham borrowed it in 1995 when he created the first wiki, WikiWikiWeb, a collaborative website that anyone could edit. He chose the name because he had been told to take the "Wiki Wiki" shuttle buses at Honolulu airport, and he liked the idea of quick, easy editing. The Wikimedia Foundation was founded in 2003 as a nonprofit to run Wikipedia, which had launched in 2001 and used Cunningham's wiki software.