widget

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪd͡ʒ.ɪt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɪdʒɪt

Etymology 1

Coined by American playwright George S. Kaufman in 1924 in his play Beggar on Horseback (1924).

Noun

widget (plural widgets)

1. A placeholder name for an unnamed, unspecified, or hypothetical manufactured good or product, typically as an example for purposes of explaining concepts.

   Synonyms: thingy, gizmo, sprocket; see also Thesaurus:thingy

   Suppose we have a widget factory that produces 100 units per year...

   • 2020 August 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Rail at the brink? Not yet...”, in Rail, page 3:

     Damage inflicted on the rail industry supply chain, from major contractors to widget manufacturers, would have further profound nationwide consequences on an already damaged industry and wrecked economy.

2. A floating device inside a beer can, meant to create foam when opened.
3. A small scraping tool consisting of a blade and a handle, commonly used to remove paint from glass and other smooth surfaces.

   Synonym: scraper

4. (informal) Synonym of tool, implement, device, gadget, part

Translations

unnamed, unspecified, or hypothetical manufactured good or product

• Bulgarian: джаджа (bg) f (džadža)
• Czech: věcička (cs) f, udělátko n, udělátor m
• Dutch: dingetje (nl), prul (nl)
• Finnish: vempain (fi), vekotin (fi), härveli (fi)
• French: babiole (fr) f, camelote (fr) f
• Greek: μαραφέτι (el) n (maraféti)
• Hungarian: kütyü (hu)
• Irish: giuirléid f

modular software component

• Bulgarian: приспособление (bg) n (prisposoblenie)

floating widget or other device inside a beer can

small scraping tool

• Czech: škrabka (cs) f
• French: spatule (fr) f
• German: Schaber (de) m
• Romanian: spatula f
• Spanish: espátula (es)

Etymology 2

Blend of window +‎ gadget

Noun

widget (plural widgets)

1. (graphical user interface) Any one of the components of a computer application's graphical user interface, such as a Cancel button or text input box that a user interacts with.

   Synonym: control

2. (graphical user interface) A small applet that can be placed on the desktop or in a sidebar, etc.

Descendants

• French: widget (fr)
• Spanish: widget (es)

Translations

component of a graphical user interface that the user interacts with

• Catalan: giny (ca) m
• Esperanto: fenestraĵo
• Finnish: komponentti (fi), pienoisohjelma, vekotin (fi); widgetti (colloquial)
• French: widget (fr) m
• German: Steuerelement n, Widget (de) n
• Greek: γραφικό στοιχείο (el) n (grafikó stoicheío)
• Irish: giuirléid f
• Macedonian: посреднички елеме́нт m (posrednički elemént)
• Norwegian: widget
• Polish: widżet m
• Russian: ви́джет (ru) m (vídžet)
• Spanish: widget (es) m
• Turkish: parçacık (tr)

on-screen applet

• French: widget (fr) m

Further reading

• widget on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• graphical widget on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• software widget on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “widget”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English widget.

Noun

widget m (plural widgets)

1. (computing, software) widget

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English widget.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ˈwiʝet/ [ˈwi.ʝet̪]

• IPA^(key): (everywhere but Argentina and Uruguay) /ˈwiʝet/ [ˈwi.ʝet̪]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /ˈwiʃet/ [ˈwi.ʃet̪]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /ˈwiʒet/ [ˈwi.ʒet̪]

• Rhymes: -iʝet

Noun

widget m (plural widgets)

1. (computing) widget

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.