What does bookmarked mean?
Bookmarked is the past tense and past participle of the verb 'bookmark', meaning to save a record of something so it can be easily returned to later. In everyday use it refers almost entirely to computing: when you bookmark a web page, your browser stores its address in a list of favourites, allowing instant retrieval without searching again. The word carries a practical, purposeful connotation — a bookmarked item is deliberately set aside as valuable, not merely encountered. Before the internet, the term applied literally to placing a physical marker between the pages of a book to hold one's place, and this older meaning still appears occasionally. Figuratively, people say they have 'mentally bookmarked' an idea they intend to revisit. The word is neutral in register, common in both casual and professional speech, and has become so embedded in digital life that 'to bookmark' needs no explanation for most computer users.
verb (past tense and past participle)The past tense and past participle of 'bookmark': to save the address of a web page so it can be quickly found again, or (formerly) to place a physical bookmark in a book to mark one's reading position.
- To save a web page's address in a browser's list of favourites for quick access later.
- To insert a physical bookmark into a printed book at the point one has reached.
- (Figuratively) To mentally note something as worth revisiting or attending to later.
"She bookmarked several recipes online so she could find them again after work."
"I bookmarked the article on my phone but never got around to finishing it."
"He had bookmarked his place in the novel with an old cinema ticket stub."
Before browsers existed, readers literally tucked ribbons into novels — the digital 'bookmark' borrowed its name straight from that centuries-old habit.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bookmarked
The word combines 'book', from Old English 'bōc' (related to German 'Buch'), and 'mark', from Old English 'mearc' meaning a boundary or sign. The compound noun 'bookmark' first denoted a ribbon or slip placed in a physical book, and by the late twentieth century the verb 'to bookmark' was repurposed by browser software to describe saving a web address. Its cognates include other 'book' compounds such as 'booklet' and 'notebook', and 'mark' derivatives such as 'marker' and 'benchmark'.
Related word forms
How bookmarked is actually used
Almost always used in the digital sense in modern contexts; the literal book sense survives mainly in literary or nostalgic usage. As a past participle it also functions adjectivally ('a heavily bookmarked page').
Easily confused with bookmarked
'Booked' means reserved in advance (a table, a ticket), while 'bookmarked' means saved for later reference, typically as a link in a browser.