Palmtop

Palmtop

Noun · /ˈpɑːm.tɒp/

Definition

A very small personal computer designed to be held and operated in the palm of the hand; a hand-held computer. The term appearing in the late 1980s and 1990s to describe devices smaller than a laptop (which could sit on the lap) or a desktop — small enough to sit in the palm. Now largely replaced by smartphones, tablets, and the broader category of mobile devices.

Origin

From palm (the flat inner surface of the hand — Old English folm, later influenced by Latin palma, palm tree and palm of the hand, both named for the hand-like shape of the palm leaf) + top (as in laptop, desktop — the surface or platform on which computing occurs). Palmtop therefore being a natural extension of the desktop → laptop → palmtop size-reduction series that characterised personal computer marketing in the late 1980s and 1990s. The word being a product of the rapid miniaturisation of computing and the excitement about increasingly portable devices.