WordPress terms, explained simply

WordPress has its own vocabulary. When you hear words like "plugin," "permalink," or "the block editor," it can feel like a foreign language — especially at first.

This glossary explains every common WordPress term in plain English, with no assumed knowledge.

A

Admin (Administrator) The highest WordPress user role — a person with full access to every setting, page, plugin, and user on the site. Be careful about who you give this role to. See WordPress user roles explained.

Admin bar The dark horizontal bar that appears at the very top of your screen when you are logged in to WordPress. It gives you quick links to edit the current page, manage the site, and more. Visitors who are not logged in never see it. See The WordPress admin bar explained.

Author A user role that can write and publish their own posts, but cannot edit other people's work or change settings. Good for regular blog contributors.

B

Backup A saved copy of your entire website — all your pages, posts, images, settings, and database. Backups let you restore the site if something goes wrong. See How WordPress backups work.

Block The individual content building units in the block editor (called Gutenberg). A paragraph, image, heading, button, and video are all separate blocks. You build pages by stacking and arranging blocks. See Working with blocks.

Block editor The modern WordPress content editor (also called Gutenberg) that uses blocks instead of a traditional text field. Introduced in WordPress 5.0 in 2018, it is now the default editor. See Getting started with the block editor.

Blog post A piece of content organized by date and category, usually shown in reverse-chronological order on a blog or news page. Different from a Page. See Pages vs posts: what's the difference?.

C

Cache / Caching A saved copy of a web page stored either in your browser or on the server, so the page loads faster the next time it is requested. Can sometimes show visitors an old version of the page after you make changes. Clearing the cache forces a fresh copy to be loaded. See My changes aren't showing up.

Category A way to group blog posts by topic (e.g., "News," "Tips," "Recipes"). Every post can belong to one or more categories. Think of categories as broad folders. See Using categories & tags.

Classic editor The older WordPress text editor that worked more like a word processor. It was the default before the block editor arrived. Some sites still use it via a plugin. See Classic editor vs block editor.

Comment Text that a reader submits on a blog post. Comments are optional — you can disable them. See Comments & discussion settings.

Contributor A user role that can write draft posts but cannot publish them. A site editor or administrator must approve and publish their content.

Core (WordPress core) The base WordPress software — the essential code that runs every WordPress site. Plugin and theme developers build on top of it. "Core updates" are updates to this base software.

Custom field An extra piece of data you can attach to a page or post — for example, a price, a subtitle, or a review score. Often used by page builders and plugins to store specific information. See also: Metadata.

D

Dashboard The main screen you see when you log in to WordPress — your control center. It shows recent activity and links to all the tools you need. See A tour of the WordPress dashboard.

Database Where WordPress stores all of your content, settings, user accounts, and more. The database runs behind the scenes — you rarely interact with it directly. It is not the same as your media files, which are stored separately.

Draft A saved but unpublished page or post. Only logged-in users can see drafts — they are not visible to your website visitors. See Drafts, previews, and publishing.

E

Editor (user role) A WordPress user role that can create, edit, and publish any content on the site — including other people's work — but cannot install plugins or change settings.

Excerpt A short summary of a blog post, often displayed on the blog listing page instead of the full post text. You can write a custom excerpt or let WordPress generate one automatically. See Post excerpts explained.

F

Featured image The main image associated with a page or post, used as a thumbnail on listing pages and in social media sharing previews. Also called a "post thumbnail." See Setting featured images.

Footer The bottom section of your website, usually containing contact details, navigation links, legal text, or social media icons. See Editing your footer & widget areas.

G

Gutenberg The code name for the WordPress block editor, named after Johannes Gutenberg who invented moveable-type printing. You'll see this name in developer discussions. In everyday use, it's just called "the block editor." See Getting started with the block editor.

H

Header The top section of your website, usually containing your logo, site name, and navigation menu.

Hook A technical WordPress concept — a point in the code where developers can attach their own functions to change behavior. You'll rarely need to think about this as a content editor.

Hosting / Host The service that stores your website's files and makes them available on the internet. Examples include WP Engine, Flywheel, and Kinsta. Different from your domain (your web address). See What is web hosting?.

I

Install (plugin/theme) Adding a new plugin or theme to your WordPress site. You can install from the WordPress.org directory or by uploading a file. See How to install a plugin.

M

Media library The built-in WordPress tool for managing all uploaded files — images, PDFs, videos, and more. See The media library explained.

Menu A navigation list, usually displayed in your header or footer, that links to your pages. You control what appears in it and in what order. See How to edit your navigation menu.

Metadata Extra information stored alongside a post or page — things like the author, publish date, and custom fields. You don't usually see or edit this directly.

Multisite A WordPress feature that lets you run multiple websites from one WordPress installation. Not common for small businesses.

P

Page A standalone piece of content — like your Home, About, or Contact page. Unlike posts, pages are not organized by date and don't use categories. See Pages vs posts: what's the difference?.

Page builder A plugin that replaces the standard WordPress editor with a visual drag-and-drop interface. Common examples include Elementor. See What is Elementor?.

Pattern A pre-designed combination of blocks that you can insert into a page and then customize. Patterns save time when building consistent sections. See Reusable blocks & patterns.

Permalink The permanent URL (web address) of a page or post — for example, yoursite.com/about-us. WordPress lets you control the format of permalinks. See Permalinks & URL structure.

Plugin An add-on that extends WordPress with new features — contact forms, SEO tools, security, e-commerce, and thousands more. Installing a plugin is like adding an app to your phone. See What are plugins?.

Post A time-stamped, categorized piece of content — blog articles, news items, and similar updates. Different from a Page. See Pages vs posts: what's the difference?.

Post status Whether a piece of content is Published, Draft, Pending Review, Scheduled, or Private. See Drafts, previews, and publishing.

R

Revision A saved version of a page or post from an earlier point in time. WordPress keeps revision history automatically, so you can undo mistakes. See Undo mistakes with revisions.

Role The level of access a WordPress user has. Roles range from Subscriber (least access) to Administrator (full access). See WordPress user roles explained.

S

Shortcode A small piece of code in square brackets — like [contact-form] — that some plugins use to insert content into a page or post. Shortcodes are less common in modern WordPress, which prefers blocks.

Site editor A newer WordPress feature that lets you edit your entire site's design — including header, footer, and page templates — using blocks. Available on themes that support "Full Site Editing" (FSE). See Using the WordPress site editor.

Slug The part of a URL that identifies a specific page — for example, in yoursite.com/about-us, the slug is about-us. You can edit the slug when creating or editing a page or post.

Staging site A private, hidden copy of your live website where you can test updates and changes without affecting real visitors. See What is a staging site?.

Subscriber The lowest WordPress user role — can only manage their own profile and read content. Often used for members-only areas.

T

Tag A keyword label you can add to posts to describe their content in detail (e.g., "recipe," "vegan," "quick"). Tags are more specific than categories. See Using categories & tags.

Template A pre-built page layout or design structure that you can apply to new pages or posts. Saves time when creating pages with the same structure.

Theme The visual design of your WordPress site — colors, fonts, layout, and overall look. A theme is separate from your content: switching themes changes the design but not your pages or posts. See WordPress themes explained.

Trash WordPress's equivalent of a recycle bin. Deleted pages and posts go to the Trash and can be restored for 30 days before permanent deletion. See Deleting & restoring pages and posts.

U

Update A new version of WordPress core, a plugin, or a theme. Updates add features and — importantly — fix security vulnerabilities. Keeping everything updated is one of the most important things you can do for your site. See WordPress updates explained.

Upload Adding a file to your WordPress media library. Images, PDFs, audio files, and videos can all be uploaded. See How to upload images and files.

W

Widget A small, self-contained block of content or functionality — a search box, a recent posts list, a map — that you can add to sidebar or footer areas. In modern WordPress, widgets have largely been replaced by blocks.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Two different products. WordPress.org is the free, open-source software you install on your own hosting. WordPress.com is a hosted service run by Automattic. Most professional websites use WordPress.org. See WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

WSOD (White Screen of Death) A common WordPress error where the site displays a completely blank white page with no error message. Usually caused by a plugin conflict or a PHP memory issue. See Fixing the "white screen" error.

Common questions

Related guides

• A tour of the WordPress dashboard
• What is WordPress?
• WordPress user roles explained
• What are plugins?
• WordPress themes explained
• Web basics: terms A–Z

Learn more

• WordPress.org: Getting started
• WordPress.org: Glossary