app

Clipping of English Apma with p as a placeholder.

app

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Apma.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Apma terms

• IPA^(key): /æp/
• (US) IPA^(key): [æʔp̚]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: app
• Rhymes: -æp

Shortening of application.

app (plural apps)

2. (computing, mobile telephony) An application (program), especially a small one designed for a mobile device.
   • 1999 February, Maximum PC, volume 4, number 2:

     A visual tool can be thought of as a graphics app that generates most of your program's GUI code for you

   • 1999, Jerry Bradenbaugh, JavaScript application cookbook, page xi:

     So is a spreadsheet app, but I'm not going to put those on a web site any time soon.

   • 1999 November, AUUGN, volume 20, number 4, page 9:

     The Web browser was the killer app that kickstarted the Internet and, in turn, enabled it to be embedded in everything

   • 2005 May, Popular Science, volume 266, number 5, page 78:

     Want realtime flight and gate updates? A calorie counter? A remote for your DVD player? Chances are there's an app for it. Smartphones separate themselves in another key area: connectivity

3. (military) application (use, purpose; not a computer program)
   • 1995, The X-Files (TV series), Nisei (episode)

     SCULLY: What are these chips used for?
     PENDRELL: Video games, brake systems, they're finding new apps every day. I just read about one being designed to help the severely disabled operate computers using brainwaves.

4. (education, informal) application (to a college etc.)
   • 2011, Nicole Leigh Shepherd, Stealing Bases:

     “Ky—please don't take this the wrong way—I actually have to wear a dress from our line. You know, to show off my marketing materials on my college app. So, I'm working on it with Hannah.”

Shortening of appetizer.

app (plural apps)

1. (informal) appetizer
   • 2007, Evelyn Spence, Explorer's Guide Colorado's Classic Mountain Towns:

     The food is some of Breck's best: apps like sweet potato gnocchi with smoked chicken and sage cream […]

   • 2009, Robin Asbell, New Vegetarian:

     If you lay out a platter of these exciting, beautiful vegetarian appetizers, the other apps will pale in comparison.

   • 2010, Bill Allen, Grillin', Chillin', and Swillin', page 1:

     This is not to say that we only serve apps at dinner parties. Quite the contrary; but for smaller gatherings, good appetizers can distinguish you as a host who puts more thought and effort into his or her party menu. Better yet, most apps are relatively easy to make […]

Shortening of appearance.

app (plural apps)

1. (sports) An appearance in a game.

   That player has had ten apps this season.

• Appendix:American Dialect Society words of the year

• pap, PPA, Pap, PAP

Borrowed from English app.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈap]

app f (plural apps)

1. app

   Synonyms: aplicació mòbil, apli

• “app” in termcat, Centre de Terminologia, 2025.

From English app.

app (Hong Kong Cantonese)

1. (computing, mobile telephony) app (Classifier: 個／个 c; 隻／只 c)

app

1. alternative form of APP

From English app, shortened from application.

app c (singular definite appen, plural indefinite apper or apps)

1. (computing) app

• applikation
• mobilapp

• appudvikler
• mobilapp

• “app” in Den Danske Ordbog

From English app. The senses pertaining to text messaging are influenced by the app name WhatsApp.

• IPA^(key): /ɛp/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: app
• Rhymes: -ɛp
• Homophone: eb

app f or m (plural apps, diminutive appje n)

1. an app

   Wat voor apps heb jij erop staan?

   What apps have you got on your phone?

2. (Netherlands, typically in the diminutive) a text message sent using an app

   Stuur alsjeblieft even een appje zodra je veilig thuis bent.

   Please send a text as soon as you're home safe.

3. (Netherlands) a chat on a text messaging app, particularly a group chat

   Ze ruzieden in de app van het studentenhuis.

   They had a fight in the student accommodation chat.

From English app, from application, from Latin applicātiō.

• IPA^(key): /aʰpː/

  Rhymes: -aʰpː

app f (genitive singular appar, plural appir)

1. (computing) app (for a mobile device)

• Audio:

  (file)

app m (plural apps)

1. only used in bon app (“bon appétit”)

Clipping of applikáció (“application”), from English application.

• IPA^(key): [ˈɒpː]
• Hyphenation: app
• Rhymes: -ɒpː

app (plural appok)

1. (computing) app, application

   Synonyms: alkalmazás, applikáció

Borrowed from English app, from application, from Latin applicātiō.

• IPA^(key): /ahp/

  Rhymes: -ahp

app n (genitive singular apps, nominative plural öpp)

1. (computing) app (for a mobile device)

   Synonym: smáforrit

• “app” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)

Borrowed from English app.

app f (invariable)

1. app

From Proto-Finnic *appi.

app

1. father-in-law

Unadapted borrowing from English app.

app (Portugal) f or (Brazil) m (plural apps)

1. (computing) app (small computer application)

   Synonyms: aplicação, (Brazil) aplicativo

   • 2014, Peter Thiel, translated by Miguel Bôto, Zero to One, →ISBN, unnumbered page; republished as De Zero a Um, Leya, 2015:

     A realização de pequenas melhorias relativamente a algo que já existe poderá levá-lo a um máximo local, mas não o irá ajudar a alcançar o máximo global. Poderá desenvolver a melhor versão de uma app para encomendar papel higiénico através do iPhone, […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “app”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Unadapted borrowing from English app (with gender by association with aplicación f).

• IPA^(key): /ˈap/ [ˈap]
  • Rhymes: -ap
• IPA^(key): /ˈapepe/ [ˈa.pe.pe]
  • Rhymes: -apepe

app m or f (plural apps)

1. (computing) app

   Synonym: aplicación

   • 2019 December 16, “Una app de citas descartará posibles parejas por su ADN”, in El País‎^[1]:

     Con la app de George Church, sus padres no se habrían conocido, porque habrían sido declarados incompatibles.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
• Before feminine nouns beginning with stressed /ˈa/ like app, the singular definite article takes the form of el (otherwise reserved for masculine nouns) instead of the usual la: el app. This includes the contracted forms al and del (instead of a la and de la, respectively): al app, del app.

This also applies to the indefinite article, which takes the form of un, which is otherwise used with masculine nouns (although the standard feminine form una also occurs): un app or una app. The same is true with determiners algún/alguna and ningún/ninguna, as well as for numerals ending with 1 (e.g., veintiún/veintiuna).

However, if another word intervenes between the article and the noun, the usual feminine singular articles and determiners (la, una etc.) are used: la mejor app, una buena app.

• In these cases, el and un are not masculine but feminine, deriving from Latin illa and una, respectively, even though they are identical in form to the corresponding masculine singular articles. Thus, they are allomorphs of the feminine singular articles la and una.
• The use of these allomorphs does not change the gender agreement of the adjectives modifying the feminine noun: el app única, un(a) app buena.
• In the plural, the usual feminine plural articles and determiners (las, unas, etc.) are always used.

• In practice, this rule is often not followed and the form la app is widely used.

• Manuel Seco, Olimpia Andrés, Gabino Ramos (3 August 2023) “app”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA [BBVA Foundation]

app c

1. (computing) an app (especially on mobile phones and the like, like in English)

   Synonym: applikation

• mobilapp

app

1. Expresses reproach; "Hey, don't do that!"

   App app app – den där får du inte äta. Den är till festen imorgon.

   App app app – you can't eat that one. It's for the party tomorrow.

Usually repeated.

• app in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• app in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)