Instagram

English

Logos of Instagram

Etymology

Trade name. Blend of instant +‎ telegram.^[1]^[2] By surface analysis, insta- +‎ -gram.

Pronunciation

(UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɪnstəɡɹæm/
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Proper noun

Instagram

(Internet) An online photo- and video-sharing social networking service, originally designed to mimic old-fashioned instant cameras.
- 2019 September 25, Kendra Pierre-Louis, “How to Buy Clothes That Are Built to Last”, in New York Times‎:
  According to a survey commissioned by the credit card company Barclay, 9 percent of shoppers in Britain admitted to buying clothes online for Instagram. After posting pictures of themselves wearing the item online, they return it.
- 2020, “Carla's got a boyfriend”, in The Night Chancers, performed by Baxter Dury:
  Carla's got a boyfriend / I spotted him on Instagram / Followed him about a bit

Synonyms

(clippings): (China) Ins, Insta, 'gram ('Gram, gram, Gram)
(abbreviation): IG

Derived terms

Translations

online photo-sharing service

Arabic: إِنْسْتَقْرَام m (ʔinstaqrām), إِنْسْتَغْرَام m (ʔinstaḡrām)
Hijazi Arabic: إنستقرام m (instagrām)
Armenian: Ինստագրամ (Instagram)
Belarusian: Інстагра́м m (Instahrám)
Bengali: ইন্স্টাগ্র্যাম (insṭagrjam)
Bulgarian: И́нстаграм m (Ínstagram)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 即時電報 / 即时电报 (Jíshídiànbào) (not a well-established name)
Esperanto: Instagramo
Finnish: Instagram, insta
French: Instagram (fr)
Georgian: ინსტაგრამი (insṭagrami)
Greek: Ίνσταγκραμ (Ínstagkram)
Hebrew: אינסטגרם m (instagram)
Hindi: इन्स्टग्राम m (insṭagrām)
Indonesian: Instagram
Japanese: インスタグラム (Insutaguramu), インスタ (Insuta)
Javanese: ꦆꦤ꧀ꦱ꧀ꦛꦒꦿꦩ꧀ (ĩnsthagram)
Korean: 인스타그램 (Inseutageuraem), 인스타 (Inseuta)
Latin: Īnstagramma m
Lithuanian: instagramas m
Macedonian: И́нстаграм m (Ínstagram)
Malay: Instagram
Maori: paeāhua
Marathi: इन्स्टाग्राम (insṭāgrām)
Odia: ଇନ୍ସ୍ଟଗ୍ରାମ (insṭagrāma)
Pashto: اسټګرام (insṭëgrâm)
Persian: اینستگرام (instagrâm)
Polish: Instagram (pl) m
Portuguese: Instagram m
Russian: Инстагра́м m (Instagrám)
Sinhalese: ඉන්ස්ටග්‍රම් (insṭagram)
Tamil: இந்ஸ்டக்ராம் (insṭakrām)
Telugu: ఇన్స్టగ్రమ్ (insṭagram)
Tigrinya: ኢንስታግራም (ʾinsətagram)
Turkish: Instagram
Ukrainian: Інстаґрáм m (Instagrám), Інстагра́м m (Instahrám)

Noun

Instagram (plural Instagrams)

A user's profile or account on this service.
Have you seen her Instagram lately?

She's been blowing up my Instagram!
A photograph or video shared on this service.
I saw one of her Instagrams last week, but I haven't talked to her since then.

Verb

Instagram (third-person singular simple present Instagrams, present participle Instagramming, simple past and past participle Instagrammed)

(intransitive) To use the social networking service Instagram.
- 2013 July 5, Lyndsey Winship, “Mårten Spångberg, the bad boy of contemporary dance”, in The Guardian‎:
  The thinking goes that if the modern audience watches TV on laptops, while Instagramming and checking emails at the same time, why would contemporary artists ignore that and insist on trapping them in a silent black box for an hour?
(transitive, intransitive) To post an image or video to Instagram.
- 2012, Nas, No I.D., Patrick Adams, Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, Paul Leka (lyrics and music), “Daughters” (track 5), in Life is Good, performed by Nas:
  Her mother cried when she answered / Said she don't know what got inside this child's mind, she planted / A box of condoms on her dresser then she Instagrammed it.
- 2014 July 7, Kaitlan Collins, “Kim Kardashian Was Desperate To Leave The Hamptons So She Could Instagram”, in The Daily Caller‎:
  [see title]
(transitive, intransitive) To digitally manipulate a photograph using filter effects.
- 2012, Jefferson Graham, Video Nation, →ISBN, page 160:
  To illustrate, I used B-roll of photos on the iPhone that were being “Instagrammed” (Figure 8.6) with fun filters along with screen captures of Instragram's No. 1 ranking in the iTunes App Store and the Apple website touting the iPhone 4S.
- 2013 May 31, Kory Stamper, “The Spelling Bee turns Twitter into our national sports bar”, in The Guardian‎:
  In a world where it is de rigueur to announce your wedding on Facebook and show the world artfully Instagrammed pictures of your appendectomy, it's no surprise that the Bee has a social media presence.
- 2014, Reenita Malhotra Hora, Operation Mom, →ISBN:
  There he was, staring cheekily into the camera for a perfectly instagrammed photo which had been touched up to show off his muscles, raw sex appeal and wild, unkempt hair.
- 2014, Rachael Chadwick, 60 Postcards: The inspirational story of a young woman's journey to celebrate her mother, one postcard at a time, →ISBN:
  The cameras were out and we were all trying to get pictures of each other, which we then spent a further half an hour trying to Instagram to make us look as good as possible

References

^ Somini Sengupta, Nicole Perlroth, Jenna Worthamapril (2012 April 13) “Behind Instagram’s Success, Networking the Old Way”, in New York Times: “They gave it a new name: Instagram. “We renamed because we felt it better captured what you were doing — an instant telegram of sorts,” Mr. Systrom wrote on Quora, a question-and-answer site that his friend Mr. D’Angelo had started.”
^ Kevin Systrom (2011 January 12) “What is the genesis of Instagram?”, in Quora: “[…] we went out on a limb, and basically cut everything in the Burbn app except for its photo, comment, and like capabilities. What remained was Instagram. (We renamed because we felt it better captured what you were doing -- an instant telegram of sorts. It also sounded camera-y)”