Talk:updation

"Updation" - is it correct? What does the "Original" English think about it?

The word "Updation" is not recognized either by Oxford dictionary or by Merriam Webster dictionary, neither for US English nor for world english.

Also, it is incorrect to say that "updation" is used mainly in India ONLY as a substitute to "updating".

In India, I think, the word "updation" came into use because, "updating" with a "-ing" is understood as a verb, where in "updating" would mean someone doing the physical act of updating something; where as "updation" is understood to be a noun meaning 'the process of something getting updated'. It appears to be short for 'up-date-tion' similar to "upgradation" which is short for 'up-grade-tion'.

I can totally understand how it came to be: Something you create is a "creation", something you delete is a "deletion", something you revise is a "revision". It's just that "updation" just never caught on anywhere outside of India.


 * "What does the "Original" English think about it?" -> Yuck! ;) It's another made-up word (lot's of them out there, 'mitigant' is another classic). But that's how the language evolves, so I wouldn't make a comment on its objective validity. I've come across it in this context: "The document is ready for updation now.". This would more normally (and correctly) be written: "The document is ready to be updated now", though "The document is ready for update now" is also common (and doesn't involve making up new words).

Crispynote 15:17, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Although I have come across this usage lately in India, I think the coinage is rather due to someone's lack of proper knowledge about english language, or a prank, that started this trend. Although one may dismiss my comment on this topic as one from a prude and traditionalist, I think linguistic integrity can be maintained while forming new words without making a fool of oneself. —This unsigned comment was added by &#x20;at 20:31, 1 March 2012 (UTC).


 * This is a classic case of false splitting - the word "update", formed as "up-date", is reinterpreted as "upd-ate".
 * But "This word is mainly used in India instead of updating"? In my experience, an act of updating isn't an updating, it's just an update.  Indeed, "updating" isn't given as being a noun here, whereas "update" is. — Smjg (talk) 23:26, 17 October 2013 (UTC)
 * In English any -ing-form of a verb can be used as a noun is. We don't have separate word-class entries for uses that are grammatically allowed for all members of a word class. For example, every noun can be used attributively (as a modifier of another noun). We don't have an adjective section unless there has evolved a semantically distinct use or the word shows other signs of membership in the class of adjectives. DCDuring TALK 02:46, 7 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Maybe, but in cases where the verb in base form is also a noun with the same meaning, it's unusual. Practically nobody uses "updating" as a noun; rather, one uses "update" instead.  As such, I say "updation" is a substitute for "update", not for "updating". — Smjg (talk) 00:25, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

I think the key to this is use by Indian IT staff. In 2000, I'd never heard the word, but a few years later I started meeting its use by IT staff in our Asian partner company. Interestingly, a discussion about the word in another forum included this view: "Yes, I am from an IT background, in India. I have heard it from so many people here, that I'll say that it is very much acceptable in the community of IT workers, but might never be heard of, outside." Over time it may become more widespread in the West. I'm a bit of a purist on English, but there are two factors we have to remember: no language is static, and English, as effectively a global language, is now more dynamic than most. —This unsigned comment was added by &#x20;at 21:06, 8 May 2014 (UTC).


 * There's upgradation too. Equinox ◑ 06:39, 26 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Maybe, but that's different in that there's no word "upgradate", let alone one in which the "ate" is part of a totally different morpheme from "-ate". — Smjg (talk) 20:56, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

I've seen this in a technical sense as well. For example a database may contain creation and updation fields. I can see how this would evolve in the IT field.

Came across this word in "A Study of Botnets: Systemization of Knowledge and Correlation-based Detection" by Shehar Bano.

As far as I know, this is entirely and completely an Indianism, which has been around for at least 15 years, and has caught on precisely nowhere else. I've managed several offshore Indian teams over the years, and this seems to be a commonplace over there, but I've never, ever heard it from a non-Indian (except ironically).

OK, I am a non-Indian and find the word useful in the following example: "I am responsible for the updation of all the system datasets." Updation here meaning "keeping up-to-date throughout the time". To update sounds like a one-point-in-time action. Updation is keep doing updates so that the data is always current and valid. I cannot think of a better word for that than Updation.


 * What's wrong with "updating" (used as a noun gerund)? Equinox ◑ 10:40, 21 June 2023 (UTC)