hashtag

noun

hash·​tag ˈhash-ˌtag 

plural hashtags

: a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorizes the accompanying text (such as a tweet)

You know a thing is really a thing these days when it has its own hashtag. And there it was last week, trending on Twitter alongside #cincodemayo and #happymothersday: #umpshow, which sprang up in the wake of some shockingly bad umpiring over the first six weeks of the major league season.

—Joe Sheehan

It's also true that a popular hashtag can benefit important and worthy subjects, such as the recently kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls.

—Mark Leibovich

also : the symbol # as used in a hashtag

Did you know?

Hashtags are an everyday part of Internet culture, thanks to social media. Originally designed for categorizing posts (i.e., tagging them) on Twitter, hashtags now commonly also supplement or comment on whatever text or image they accompany. The “hash” in hashtag is short for hash mark, a term for what we also call a pound sign or, if you want to apply the word-nerdiest designation, an octothorpe. Hash in this case is probably an alteration of hatch, a term for the lines artists sometimes use to add shading to a drawing. #WordNerdery

Examples of hashtag in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Persian-language hashtag #no_to_war has been shared by thousands of Iranians inside and outside the country. —Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 14 Apr. 2024

TikToks using the hashtag #acotar have skyrocketed to over a million posts and close to 9 billion views, which doesn’t even come close to the thousands of content webs that have spiraled from the book’s popularity. —Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 6 Apr. 2024

And share your act of science on social media with the hashtag #OneMillionActsOfScience! —Bob Hirshon, Discover Magazine, 4 Apr. 2024

The hashtag #FinTok has a staggering 4.8 billion views on the site as more than a third of Gen Zers rely on influencers as their main source of financial information, according to research by Intuit Credit Karma. —Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune Europe, 27 Mar. 2024

Others posted using the hashtag #KeepTikTok, imploring their followers to get involved. —Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 15 Mar. 2024

At the time of publication, the hashtag #Oatzempic had more than 1,100 posts and counting. —Korin Miller, Health, 30 Mar. 2024

The entertainment website unveiled its research analyzing Instagram and TikTok hashtag data, showing the most popular and most photographed mountains around the world. —Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 29 Mar. 2024

Over the past year, the students of Payson High School have been asking Bacon to attend their big dance by recreating scenes from Footloose, performing its iconic choreography and using the hashtag #BaconToPayson on social media. —EW.com, 22 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

2007, in the meaning defined above

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

Kids Definition

hashtag

noun

hash·​tag

ˈhash-ˌtag

: a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorizes the accompanying text (such as a tweet)