What does timestamp mean?
A timestamp is a mark or record that identifies the date and usually the time associated with an event or item. It appears on emails, files, photographs, videos, messages, financial records, and many other digital or administrative materials. The term is also useful as a verb: to timestamp something is to record when it was created, received, changed, or otherwise processed. In technical systems, timestamps may be precise to the second or even smaller units, allowing events to be placed in chronological order and helping to establish the sequence of actions. The word is especially associated with digital communication and data management, but older paper-based processes also used date stamps, making the concept broader than modern software. A timestamp is not merely a vague indication that something happened; it is a specific, attached record of when it happened. This practical precision explains why timestamps are common in legal, financial, journalistic, scientific, and administrative contexts as well as in everyday online communication.
A recorded mark or piece of data indicating the date and, usually, the time when an event, message, file, or record was created, received, or modified.
"The original timestamp establishes when the photograph was published."
In technical contexts, a timestamp may include a time zone, seconds, or fractional seconds in addition to the date.
To attach a timestamp to something, especially by automatically or electronically recording the date and time of its creation, receipt, or modification.
"The application timestamps each comment with the time it was posted."
This verb is especially common in computing and digital recordkeeping, where the act of timestamping is usually systematic.
The regular plural of the noun is timestamps, used for multiple date-and-time markers or records.
"The investigators compared the timestamps on the recordings."
A timestamp is a moment reduced to metadata: a tiny record that can keep a digital event from becoming impossibly vague.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does timestamp come from?
Timestamp is an English compound formed from time and stamp, both long-established words in their respective senses. The combination developed from the idea of marking a document or record with information about its time. In modern usage, the compound expanded beyond physical date stamps to include times recorded electronically alongside files, messages, and transactions. Related words such as timer, timely, and timeless continue the older English root time, while stamp supplies the combining element associated with making or affixing a mark.
Related word forms
How timestamp is actually used
The noun and verb forms are common in computing, communications, media, and recordkeeping. In digital contexts, the word often implies an automatically or formally recorded time rather than an informal description of when something happened. It is used in both formal technical writing and everyday conversation.
Easily confused with timestamp
A timestamp identifies when an event occurred, whereas a timer measures or counts a duration.