What does parsed mean?
“Parsed” is the past tense and past participle of “parse,” a verb meaning to analyze something by separating it into meaningful constituent parts. It is particularly common in computing and linguistics: software parses code, markup, or data, while a linguistic parser identifies grammatical relationships within a sentence. As an adjective, “parsed” describes information or material that has already undergone this process, as in “parsed data” or “parsed output.” The term often carries a technical implication that the result follows a defined structure, whether that structure is a syntax tree, a table of fields, or a sequence of grammatical elements. Outside technical contexts, it can sound more formal than ordinary alternatives such as “analyzed” or “worked out.” Understanding “parsed” is useful because it describes not merely examining information, but systematically converting it into a form that can be interpreted, compared, or processed by another system.
To have analyzed something by dividing it into component words, phrases, elements, or structured data.
"The service parsed each incoming document before storing it."
The simple past and past participle are both “parsed.” It is especially frequent in computing, data processing, and linguistics.
Having been analyzed into constituent parts or converted into a structured representation.
"The API returned the parsed content in JSON format."
Common technical pairings include “parsed data,” “parsed output,” and “parsed representation.”
A parsed sentence becomes a tree, giving computers a map of the relationships hidden inside language.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does parsed come from?
English “parse” was borrowed from French parse, ultimately from Latin pars, meaning “part.” Its English verb originally referred to analyzing the parts of a sentence or word; “parsed” is the regular past-tense and past-participle form. Several English words, including “part,” “portion,” “particular,” and “parcel,” ultimately derive from the same Latin root.
Related word forms
How parsed is actually used
“Parsed” is especially common in computing and linguistics. In technical writing, it often implies that input has been broken into a defined structure, such as an abstract syntax tree, data format, or set of grammatical components.