Ping
/pɪŋ/ · Verb · Noun · Slang & Abbreviations · Origin: 1983
Definitions
1. A network utility that sends ICMP echo requests to test connectivity and measure latency. Named after sonar. 2. In office slang: to send someone a message, typically on Slack or Teams. 'I'll ping you later' has replaced 'I'll call you.'
In plain English: As tech jargon: to check if a computer is reachable on a network. As office slang: to send someone a quick message.
Origin Story
Submarine sonar meets network diagnostics
Mike Muuss wrote the `ping` utility in December 1983 while working at the U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory. The name comes directly from **sonar** — the sharp acoustic pulse a submarine sends out to detect objects, which returns as an echo. If you get a response, something's out there. If you don't, it's either gone or you're in trouble.
The analogy maps perfectly: `ping` sends an ICMP Echo Request packet to a host and waits for an Echo Reply. The round-trip time tells you how "far away" the host is, just as sonar timing reveals distance. Muuss later acknowledged a backronym: **Packet InterNet Groper**, though he said the sonar metaphor was the real inspiration.
Muuss wrote the entire program in one evening. It became one of the most universally used network diagnostic tools in history, shipping with essentially every operating system ever made.
Coined by: Mike Muuss
Context: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, 1983
Fun fact: Mike Muuss tragically died in a car accident in 2000 at age 42. The ping utility he wrote in a single evening has outlived him by decades and is run billions of times per day worldwide.