Basic+ Word of the Day: source

source (noun)

River source

A source is a thing or place from which something comes.

• The source of the restaurant's vegetables is a nearby farm.
• Eileen's childhood is the source of her happiness.
• Authorities found that the source of the food poisoning was a local butcher.

Or the origin of a river.

• The hikers climbed up to the source of the river.

A source can also be a person or document that provides information.

• The journalist would not reveal the source of her information.
• The student listed the sources for his research paper in the bibliography.

Common uses

source code: fundamental computer code written by a programmer, usually in plain text. Example: “The programmer had to study the source code before she could resolve the problems with the software.”

open source: source code that is publicly available for others to use, share or enhance. “The developers used open source software as a basis for their new app.”

In pop culture

Listen to Van Halen’s song “Source of Infection.” Listen for the lyric “Love, love is source of infection.” Do you agree?

There are other meanings of source.