Where does the word Wi-Fi come from?
The lifeline of the new normal. The reason we can have rich virtual lives and why there is a growing number of people called “digital nomads.” But although Wi-Fi has become a permanent fixture of our daily lexicon, we probably haven’t given the word a second thought.
Sure, the “Wi” is short for “wireless.” What’s with the “Fi” though? Did we just stick it there to have a snappy word that rolls off the tongue? Surely there’s some deeper, technical meaning that underpins it.
The truth is, there isn’t. The main motive for the “Fi” was in fact snappiness.
Before we jump into the backstory, think about another phrase you hear that sounds an awful lot like “Wi-Fi”… (hint: it’s related to music quality)
Yup, “Wi-Fi” is a play on the word “hi-fi” (the former being officially uppercase in its spelling). Notice I said “play”: while “hi-fi” officially stands for “High Fidelity,” Wi-Fi was coined more as a catchy substitute for “IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence.”
IE-what??!
IEEE 802.11 refers to the set of standards that define communication for wireless LANs (wireless local area networks). The technology behind 802.11 is branded to consumers as Wi-Fi. In other words, IEEE 802.11 is the set of technical guidelines for implementing Wi-Fi.
How did the geeky term IEEE 802.11 morph into “Wi-Fi” for laymen? Because the geeky group behind the technology, now known as the Wi-Fi Alliance, was kind enough to recognize that the technical term wasn’t exactly memorable, and also humble enough to recognize that they needed outside help to coin a new name (it’s not worth getting into the finer details of the technology and technical terms, but we know these guys were legit nerds because IEEE stands for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Wi-Fi Alliance was originally called the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance).
So the technical people hired Interbrand, a global brand consultancy, to come up with a consumer-facing name. There were several options on the table; the group went with “Wi-Fi” as customers told them that its similarities to the already widely used term hi-fi helped them grasp the concept.
Let’s take two quick steps back to understand what these 90s consumers were talking about. We commonly know the word “fidelity” to mean “faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief,” but by extension it also means “the degree of exactness with which something is copied or reproduced” i.e. “faithful reproduction.” High fidelity, or hi-fi, alludes to the “faithful reproduction of sound.”
So Wi-Fi then seemed to reflect technology that, even without cables, delivers a high-quality, lossless connection wherever you go. But millennials barely remember another reality; Wi-Fi = internet connection, plain and simple. Just like teenagers today don’t know that phones were ever anything other than touchscreens with Instagram.
But again, as both Interbrand and the Wi-Fi Alliance will stress, “the name Wi-Fi does not stand for Wireless Fidelity, in fact, it doesn’t stand for anything at all.” One of the founders of the Wi-Fi alliance explained that his fellow geeks “could not imagine using the name Wi-Fi without having some sort of literal explanation. So we compromised and agreed to include the tag line ‘The Standard for Wireless Fidelity’ along with the name. This was a mistake and only served to confuse people and dilute the brand.” He added, “It was a clumsy attempt to come up with two words that matched Wi and Fi. That’s it. Later, when Wi-Fi was becoming more successful and we got some marketing and business people from larger companies on the board, the alliance dropped the tag line.”
So there you have it. Sometimes a cute name just is.
