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Added 2 October 2026

code

/kəʊd/ noun

Latin root: cōdex Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about code at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A short textual designation, often with little relation to the item it represents.
This flavour of soup has been assigned the code WRT-9.
A body of law, sanctioned by legislation, in which the rules of law to be specifically applied by the courts are set forth in systematic form; a compilation of laws by public authority; a digest.
Any system of principles, rules or regulations relating to one subject.
The medical code is a system of rules for the regulation of the professional conduct of physicians.

verb

To write software programs.
I learned to code on an early home computer in the 1980s.
To add codes to (a data set).
To categorise by assigning identifiers from a schedule, for example CPT coding for medical insurance purposes.

noun

Alternative form of cod.

Origin

From Middle English code (“system of law”), from Old French code (“system of law”), from Latin cōdex, later form of caudex (“the stock or stem of a tree, a board or tablet of wood smeared over with wax, on which the ancients originally wrote; hence, a book, a writing.”). Doublet of codex. Verb etymology 1, verb sense 7 is an ellipsis of code blue (“medical emergency”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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