Meanings
big data1
- uncountableData on a very large scale, such that it can only be gathered or processed with computers, especially with reference to its potential to allow for new breakthroughs or understanding in a particular field of study.
Big data has the potential to revolutionise the global healthcare system, but barriers to its adoption mean progress is slow.
2015 October 23, Oliver Balch, “How much medical information would you share in the name of big data?”, in The Guardian, image caption3 more examples
The insights gained from big data can be used to improve products and customer service, but they can also be used in ways that creep out customers and make them feel uncomfortable or watched.
2009 February, Roger Magoulas, Ben Lorica, “Big Data: Technologies and Techniques for Large-Scale Data”, in Release 2.0, number 11, O’Reilly Media, Inc., →ISSN, page 5As we’ll discuss in more detail, the big data of this revolution is far more powerful than the analytics that were used in the past. We can measure and therefore manage more precisely than ever before. We can make better predictions and smarter decisions.
2012 October 1, Andrew McAfee, Erik Brynjolfsson, “Big Data: The Management Revolution”, in Harvard Business Review, →ISSNJames Cheshire and Oliver Uberti’s enchanting and exhilarating annotated atlas of animal movements[…]is a product of ‘big data’ methodology.
2016 November, Richard Smyth, “Bird's-Eye Viewing”, in Literary Review
Big Data2
- Alternative letter-case form of big data.
Origin
In 2000, economist Francis X. Diebold published the first version of a paper titled “Big Data Dynamic Factor Models for Macroeconomic Measurement and Forecasting.” After being interviewed on his use of the term “big data” by NYTimes.com blogger Steve Lohr, Diebold undertook his own investigation, in which he concluded: “The term ‘Big Data,’ which spans computer science and statistics/econometrics, probably originated in the lunch-table conversations at Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) in the mid 1990s, in which John Mashey figured prominently.”
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans groot data, grootdata
- groot datacollection of data sets
- grootdatacollection of data sets
Arabic بَيَانَات ضَخْمَة
- بَيَانَات ضَخْمَة (bayānāt ḍaḵma)collection of data sets
Chinese Mandarin 大數據 /大数据
- 大數據 /大数据 (dàshùjù)collection of data sets
Danish Big Data
- Big Datacollection of data sets
Finnish massadata
- massadatacollection of data sets
French mégadonnées, big data
- mégadonnéescollection of data sets
- big datacollection of data sets
German Big Data, Massendaten
- Big Datacollection of data sets
- Massendatencollection of data sets
Indonesian data besar, data raya
- data besarcollection of data sets
- data rayacollection of data sets
- mahadatacollection of data sets
Italian megadati
- megadaticollection of data sets
Japanese ビッグデータ
- ビッグデータ (biggu deeta)collection of data sets
Korean 빅 데이터
- 빅 데이터 (bik deiteo)collection of data sets
Malay data raya
- data rayacollection of data sets
Norwegian Bokmål stordata, big data
- stordatacollection of data sets
- big datacollection of data sets
Polish big data
- big datacollection of data sets
Portuguese megadados, macrodados
- megadadoscollection of data sets
- macrodadoscollection of data sets
- grandes dadoscollection of data sets
Russian большие да́нные
- большие да́нные (bolʹšije dánnyje)collection of data sets
Spanish macrodatos, inteligencia de datos
- macrodatoscollection of data sets
- inteligencia de datoscollection of data sets
Tamil பெருந்தரவு
- பெருந்தரவு (peruntaravu)collection of data sets
Turkish büyük veri
- büyük vericollection of data sets
Vietnamese dữ liệu lớn
- dữ liệu lớncollection of data sets
Cite this entry
big data. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big%20data
“big data.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big%20data. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “big data,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big%20data.
Source: big data on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.