What does cursor mean?
A cursor is the small, movable indicator on a computer screen that shows where the next action — typing, clicking, or selecting — will take place. It takes two familiar forms: the blinking vertical bar (sometimes called the caret) that marks an insertion point in text, and the arrow or hand-shaped pointer that follows movements of a mouse, trackpad, or other pointing device. The word also has a more specialized sense in programming, where a cursor is a control structure that advances through the rows of a database result set one at a time. English borrowed the term from Latin cursor, meaning 'runner', via earlier uses in printing and timekeeping instruments, where a cursor was a sliding marker on a scale. Today the word is entirely neutral and ubiquitous: anyone who has used a computer knows it, even if few pause to consider that every blink of the cursor echoes an ancient image of something running swiftly along its course.
nounA movable indicator on a computer screen, such as a blinking vertical line or an arrow-shaped pointer, that marks the position where text will be inserted or where the next action will take effect. More broadly, in database contexts, a pointer that traverses the records of a result set one row at a time.
- A movable indicator on a computer or display screen marking the point of insertion or interaction, such as a blinking line in a text editor or an arrow controlled by a mouse.
- In computing and databases, a control structure or pointer that steps through the rows of a result set one at a time.
"She positioned the cursor at the end of the paragraph and began to type."
"Click anywhere in the document and the cursor will jump to that spot."
"The stored procedure opens a cursor to loop through each row returned by the query."
Regular plural; standard in both British and American English.
"Different applications can display different cursors depending on the task."
The word that runs your screen literally means 'runner' — Latin for the one who races across your page.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cursor
Cursor derives from the Latin verb currere, meaning 'to run'; the noun cursor meant 'runner' or 'one who runs'. In medieval and early modern usage it denoted a sliding indicator on an astronomical instrument or slide rule, and printers used it for the sliding part of a composing device. The computing sense emerged with electronic displays and typewriter-style terminals in the mid-twentieth century, where the flashing mark 'ran' ahead of the typed text. It shares its root with words such as course, current, cursive, and excursion.
How cursor is actually used
Entirely neutral and technical in register. In everyday use it most often refers to either the text-insertion caret or the mouse-driven pointer; some style guides distinguish these as the 'insertion point' and the 'pointer' respectively, but 'cursor' covers both in common usage.
Easily confused with cursor
A 'curser' is a person who utters curses or swear words, whereas a 'cursor' is the on-screen indicator or database pointer; the two differ only in spelling.