Word.ws English Dictionary

open source

/ˈoʊpən ˌsɔɹs/

open source noun: the practice of providing open-source code for a product. Also the alternative form of open-source.

Noun

open source (uncountable)

  1. The practice of providing open-source code for a product.
    • OpenSNP, a fourteen-year-old open source repository for genetic records, will shut down and delete all its data at the end of April.2025 April 1, Thomas Claburn, “Genetic data repo OpenSNP to self-destruct before authoritarians weaponize it”, in The Register
  2. Open-source software in general.
    • His contributions to open source are numerous.
  3. Information that is in the public domain and available to everybody.

Also used as

open source is also the alternative form of open-source.

open source meaning in Tamil, Thai and Vietnamese

open source in Tamil

practice
திறமூலம் tiṟamūlam

open source in Thai

practice
โอเพนซอร์ส
software
โอเพนซอร์ส

open source in Vietnamese

software
phần mềm nguồn mở

Forms of open source

third-person singular presentopen sources
present participleopen sourcing
past participleopen sourced
pastopen sourced

Origin of open source

Compound of open + source, coined by Christine Peterson in 1998 for software as an umbrella term to encompass existing concepts such as free software, freedomware, and sourceware.

Words formed from open source

Questions about open source

What does open source mean?
Open source means the practice of providing open-source code for a product.
What is open source in Tamil?
Open source in Tamil is திறமூலம் (tiṟamūlam). See Open source meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is open source?
Open source is a noun.
How do you pronounce open source?
Open source is pronounced /ˈoʊpən ˌsɔɹs/ (US).

Words near open source in the dictionary

  1. open shops
  2. open slather
  3. open someone's eyes
  4. open sores
  5. Open Sound Control
  6. open source
  7. open sourced
  8. open sourceror
  9. open sourcerors
  10. open sources
  11. open sourcing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: open source (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Qwertygiy-open source.wav.

Cite this entry: “open source.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/open_source. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.