What does blog mean?
A blog is a type of website, or part of one, where an individual or organization publishes regular entries — commonly called posts — usually arranged with the most recent first. Blogs range widely in character: some are personal diaries recording daily life, while others serve as professional platforms for journalism, expert commentary, marketing, or creative writing. The word also functions as a verb meaning to write or maintain such a site, and its derivatives include blogger (a person who blogs) and blogging (the activity itself). Informal yet thoroughly mainstream, the term carries little stigma; it appears freely in news articles, business plans, and everyday conversation. Emerging in the late 1990s from the phrase "weblog," it became one of the fastest-adopted words of the digital era and remains central to how people publish and consume content online.
A regularly updated website or web page, run by an individual or group, containing written posts typically displayed in reverse chronological order.
"I started a blog last year to document my restoration of a vintage motorcycle."
Countable noun; plural "blogs."
To write, publish, or maintain entries on a blog; to contribute material in this format.
"He blogs twice a week about developments in artificial intelligence."
Regular verb: blogs, blogging, blogged.
Standard plural; used when referring to multiple individual blogs.
"There are millions of active blogs covering every imaginable topic."
"Blog" was born as a joke: in 1999, writer Peter Merholz playfully split "weblog" into "we blog," and readers ran with the fragment — turning a throwaway pun into one of the defining words of the internet age.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of blog
The word blog originated in the late 1990s as a shortened form of "weblog" — a term coined by Jorn Barger in 1997 to describe the "logging" of interesting links on the web, echoing the older nautical sense of a ship's log. In 1999, Peter Merholz joked that he pronounced "weblog" as "wee-blog" and split it into "we blog" on his own site; visitors adopted the fragment, and "blog" quickly became the standard form. Its roots therefore lie in the English word "log," itself derived from the wooden log used to measure a ship's speed. Related coinages include "vlog" (video blog) and the derivative "blogger."
Related word forms
How blog is actually used
Informal to neutral in register; fully accepted in journalism and business contexts. As a verb, it conjugates like any regular verb (blogs, blogged, blogging). The noun is countable and takes a standard plural (blogs).
Easily confused with blog
A bog is an area of wet, muddy ground, whereas a blog is an online journal or regularly updated website.