telnet

T1E1L1N1E1T1

noun

A network protocol that enables one computer to communicate with another via a local area network or the Internet.

CommonScrabble 6
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Meanings

nountelnet (countable and uncountable, plural telnets)

plural telnets · alternative Telnet · alternative TELNET

  1. uncountablecomputingA network protocol that enables one computer to communicate with another via a local area network or the Internet.
  2. countablecomputingThe program that acts as the client for such communication.
verbtelnet (third-person singular simple present telnets, present participle telnetting or telneting, simple past and past participle telnetted or telneted)

present singular third person telnets · participle present telnetting · participle present telneting · participle past telnetted · past telnetted · participle past telneted · past telneted · alternative Telnet · alternative TELNET

  1. intransitivecomputingTo use such a program to make such a connection.

    I've been running tin with nano in Terminal in my Mac since 2003, and before then, by telnetting in to my university's server, which I first started doing as a first year undergrad in September 1993.

    2014 February 8, Király, “Newsreaders”, in comp.sys.mac.comm (Usenet), archived from the original on 08 Dec 2025

Origin

Short for telecommunication network.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

nettleletten
Cite this entry
APA

telnet. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telnet

MLA

“telnet.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telnet. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “telnet,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telnet.

Source: telnet on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.