What does bookmarking mean?
Bookmarking is the practice of marking something so you can return to it easily later. Its oldest meaning is literal: placing a bookmark — or a ribbon, receipt, or scrap of paper — at a page in a book so a reader can pick up where they left off. Today the word is far more likely to describe its digital descendant: clicking a browser's star icon to save a web page's address for quick revisiting. The verb form means performing this action, while the noun can refer either to the activity or, in computing, to the saved link itself. A further specialized sense, social bookmarking, describes saving links on shared platforms where others can discover them. Bookmarking carries no strong emotional connotation; it is a practical, neutral word that signals intention — a promise to come back to something worth keeping. It has become one of the most familiar small rituals of internet life.
The action of saving or marking a page, document, or web address for easy return to it later; also, in computing, a collection of such saved references.
"Her bookmarking of hundreds of articles became a running joke among friends."
As a mass noun it names the activity; in plural use it can denote individual saved items.
To save the address of a web page, or mark a place in a book, so it can be found again quickly.
"Bookmark this recipe before you lose the tab."
Rarely used; the plural appears mainly when counting distinct acts or instances of saving pages.
"His bookmakings across three different browsers were impossible to reconcile."
The word 'book' is hiding inside your browser's toolbar — every digital bookmark still carries the memory of ribbons tucked between paper pages.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bookmarking
'Bookmarking' derives from 'bookmark', a compound of 'book' and 'mark'. The noun 'bookmark', meaning an object placed in a book to mark a reader's place, is attested from the 19th century. When browsers popularized saving web addresses in the 1990s, they adopted the existing word metaphorically, extending it to digital links; the gerund 'bookmarking' followed naturally as users described the action itself.
How bookmarking is actually used
Neutral register, common in both everyday tech talk and general conversation. The digital sense overwhelmingly dominates current usage; the literal paper-book sense survives mostly among avid readers. In American English the spelling 'favorite/favoriting' often replaces the British 'favourite/favouriting' in equivalent contexts.
Easily confused with bookmarking
Bookmaking is the practice of taking bets on races and other events, whereas bookmarking is saving or marking pages for later reference.