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The Plain-English Tech Glossary

Every trade has its jargon, and tech has more than most. Here's ours, translated — the way we'd explain it at AI + Coffee. No question is too small, and no term is too basic.

Want to point someone at a specific word? Every term has its own link — click the beside it.

Everyday basics

The words that come up before anything is even broken.

Browser #: The app you use to visit websites — Safari, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox are all browsers. "Google" is a website you visit with a browser, which is why "my Google is broken" and "my internet is broken" are usually different problems.
Operating system also: OS #: The base software a device runs everything else on top of — Windows or macOS on computers, iOS or Android on phones. When something says "requires macOS 15," it's talking about this.
App vs. program #: Same thing, different decades. "App," "application," "program," and "software" all mean a thing you open to do a task.
The cloud #: Someone else's computers, reached over the internet. When your photos are "in the cloud," they're stored in a company's data center instead of (or as well as) on your device. That's why you can see them from any device — and why you need your password to get to them.
Software update #: A fresh version of an app or operating system, usually fixing bugs and security holes. Updates are worth doing: most break-ins use holes that an update already fixed.
Backup vs. sync #: A backup is a separate copy you can go back to if something is lost or broken. Sync keeps two places matching — which means a deletion syncs too. Sync is convenient; backup is what saves you. You want both.
Storage vs. memory also: disk, RAM #: Storage is the filing cabinet: where your files live permanently, and what "128 GB" on the box means. Memory (RAM) is the desk: workspace for what's open right now. "Storage full" and "running slow" point at different fixes.
Download vs. upload #: Download: from the internet to your device. Upload: from your device to the internet. Video calls use both at once, which is why they're often the first thing to stutter on a weak connection.

Internet & Wi-Fi

Why "the Wi-Fi is down" is sometimes true and sometimes not.

Modem vs. router #: The modem brings the internet into your home from your provider. The router shares it with your devices and creates your Wi-Fi. Often they're combined into one box — which is why "restart your router" fixes so many things: you're restarting both.
Wi-Fi vs. internet #: Wi-Fi is the wireless link between your device and your router — it can be perfect while the internet itself is down, and vice versa. "Full bars but nothing loads" means the Wi-Fi is fine and the internet connection isn't.
Mesh Wi-Fi #: Several small Wi-Fi units placed around your home that work as one network, instead of one router shouting from a closet. It's the usual cure for dead zones.
Bandwidth #: How much data your connection can move at once — the width of the pipe. More people streaming and video-calling at once needs a wider pipe.
IP address #: The number that identifies a device on a network, like a street address for data. You rarely need to know yours — but it's how devices find each other.
DNS #: The internet's address book. It turns names people can remember (like a website or where email should go) into the numeric addresses computers use. When DNS records are messy, websites go missing and email lands in spam — tidying them is a big part of what we do.
Domain #: Your name on the internet — the part after the @ in your email and after "www" in your web address. You rent it yearly from a registrar, and it should always be registered to you, not to whoever set it up.
VPN #: A private, encrypted tunnel over the public internet. Businesses use VPNs to reach office systems from home; individuals use them for privacy on public Wi-Fi.
Ethernet #: The wired network cable. Less convenient than Wi-Fi, but faster and steadier — worth it for desks that don't move and anything that streams or calls all day.

Email

More jargon per square inch than almost anything else. (There's a whole email settings page if you're mid-setup.)

Email client also: mail app #: Any app you read mail in — Apple Mail, Outlook, Gmail in a browser. Your mail lives with your provider; the client is just the window onto it.
IMAP #: The modern way a mail app talks to your mailbox: messages stay on the server, so every device sees the same inbox. If you're choosing, choose IMAP.
POP also: POP3 #: The older way: mail is downloaded to one device and (usually) removed from the server. It's why some people's email only exists on one aging computer — something we help fix.
SMTP #: The sending side of email. IMAP/POP receive; SMTP sends. When you can read mail but not send it, SMTP settings are the usual suspect.
Spam filter #: The bouncer that keeps junk out of your inbox. It occasionally stops a real message, which is why "check your spam folder" is step one of so many mysteries.
Phishing #: A fake message pretending to be a real company (or a real person) to trick you into handing over a password or payment. Urgency is the tell — "act now, your account will be closed." When in doubt, don't click: go to the site directly, or ask someone you trust.
Alias & forwarding #: An alias is an extra address that lands in the same mailbox. Forwarding passes mail from one address to another. Handy — until years of them tangle together, which is a cleanup we do a lot.

Staying safe

The handful of ideas that prevent most bad days.

Password manager #: An app that remembers strong, different passwords for every account so you don't have to. You remember one good password; it handles the rest. The single biggest security upgrade most people can make.
Two-factor authentication also: 2FA, MFA #: A second check at sign-in — a code from your phone, a tap on a prompt — so a stolen password alone isn't enough. Mildly annoying, hugely effective. Turn it on for email and banking first.
App password #: A special one-time password some providers (Google, Apple, Yahoo) issue for older mail apps that can't do modern sign-in. If an old email program keeps rejecting your normal password, this is usually why.
Malware also: virus #: Any software built to do harm — steal information, lock your files, show endless pop-ups. Updates, healthy skepticism about downloads, and backups are the defense.
Encryption #: Scrambling data so only someone with the key can read it. The padlock in your browser means the connection is encrypted — people in between can't read what you send.

AI, in plain words

What the letters mean, minus the hype. This is also what our free monthly AI + Coffee meetup is for.

AI artificial intelligence #: Software that handles tasks that used to need human judgment — writing a draft, sorting messages, answering questions. Not magic, and not a person: a very capable tool that still needs someone steering it.
Large language model also: LLM #: The engine inside tools like ChatGPT and Claude — a system trained on enormous amounts of text so it can read and write fluently. The apps are the car; the model is the engine.
Chatbot / AI assistant #: A program you talk to in normal language. Some are great (drafting, summarizing, explaining); some are the frustrating thing standing between you and a customer-service human. Same word, different craftsmanship.
Prompt #: What you type to an AI tool. Clearer asks get better answers — say who it's for, what you want, and what "good" looks like, like briefing a capable new assistant.
Hallucination #: When an AI tool states something false with total confidence. It's why you double-check names, numbers, and anything that matters — trust, but verify.
Automation #: Making software do a repetitive task automatically — "when an order comes in, add it to the spreadsheet and notify the team." The goal isn't fewer people; it's people doing better things with their hours.

Work & team tools

The vocabulary of running a business on modern tools.

Single sign-on also: SSO #: One login that opens all your work apps. Fewer passwords for the team, and one switch to flip when someone leaves — which is the part that matters.
Google Workspace / Microsoft 365 #: The two big bundles of business email, calendars, documents, and storage. Most companies run on one or the other; keeping them tidy is half of what "IT" means day to day.
Knowledge base #: One organized place where your team's how-tos and answers live, instead of in someone's head or a buried email thread. The foundation that makes AI assistants for your own business possible.
Migration #: Moving from one system to another — old email to new email, one file service to another — without losing anything on the way. Done right, it's boring. That's the goal.

Still decoding something?

If a term isn't here, or a sentence in some manual might as well be in another language, just ask. Explaining this stuff clearly is the job — and we'd love to add your word to this page.

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