Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

Which is the past tense of backup?

  1. backuped

  2. backup-ed

  3. backed up

  4. backed-up

The context is the following:

Due to the advent of cloud-based storage solutions, the data is backed up in different countries reducing the risk of data-loss even if a tornado wipes-out half of the surface of the Earth.

share|improve this question
1  
Side question.. I was wondering if wipes-out is correct too – Pacerier Jan 4 '12 at 5:12
2  
Drop the hyphen in wipes-out, methinks. – Mahnax Jan 4 '12 at 5:29
@Mahnax How about wipe-out as a noun? Hyphen, yes? – sarah Jan 4 '12 at 6:42
1  
@Sarah Actually, wipeout is already a commonly accepted noun, but as this dictionary shows, both are acceptable. – Mahnax Jan 4 '12 at 6:43
2  
@Pacerier No, wipes-out isn't correct. It's being used as a verb, so it should be wiped out or wipes out. Either would do there. If it were a noun it would be wipeout (or wipe-out) with wipeouts for plural, much like backup and backups. – Phoenix Jan 4 '12 at 11:19
show 2 more comments

4 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Backed up is the correct form. I never saw anyone spell it backuped or backup-ed until today. Also see the n-gram chart. [n-gram chart][1].

share|improve this answer
Btw how did you get this chart? – Pacerier Jan 4 '12 at 6:49
+1 for N-gram. (Especially if my edits are accepted ;) Actually, I'm not sure they're necessary. I'm new here.) – sarah Jan 4 '12 at 6:50
@Pacerier Google Ngrams books.google.com/ngrams – Incognito Jan 4 '12 at 7:38
@Incognito Hey thanks for the help =D – Pacerier Jan 4 '12 at 8:02
1  
Note also Mehper C. Palavuzlar's answer: "backup" is also incorrect as a verb. "I need to back up my data" not "I need to backup my data". – phoog Jan 4 '12 at 23:20
show 1 more comment
up vote 3 down vote

Backup is a noun when it is written adjoined. Its verb form is back up (note the space between back and up). Don't mix these two.

That said, the past tense of back up is backed up.

share|improve this answer
up vote 2 down vote

The noun a backup is derived from the verb to back up. Therefore, the past form should be backed up.

If it was the other way round -- if to backup was a verb derived from the noun a backup -- then backuped would be correct. That's probably how you became confused. Somehow, in your mental dictionary, backup / back up became mis-categorised as a verb derived from a noun.

share|improve this answer
up vote 1 down vote

I would say backed-up, although from personal experience, mistaken, let-down and screwed are more honest.

share|improve this answer
Sry I'm not understanding your second half of the sentence.. – Pacerier Jan 4 '12 at 8:02
That's how you feel when you need a backup, but don't have one (either because you didn't make it or because it somehow got corrupted). – Pitarou Jan 4 '12 at 11:32
@Pacerier - Backup is an irregular verb. I will backup (future), I am doing a backup (present), oh shit I thought I had a backup (past) – mgb Jan 4 '12 at 16:29
There shouldn't be a hyphen in backed-up unless it's used to modify a noun: "I wish I backed up that drive" and "I wish that the backed-up drive had failed instead of the other one." – phoog Jan 4 '12 at 23:22
@phoog, but I'm backed-up, or we are safe we are backed-up seems like it should have a hyphen. Ultimately backed-up migth become a word, just like e-mail – mgb Jan 4 '12 at 23:29
show 1 more comment

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.