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

This is the definition of hub:

  1. The central part of a wheel, rotating on or with the axle, and from which the spokes radiate.

  2. A place or thing that forms the effective center of an activity, region, or network.

https://www.google.com/search?q=hub+definition

I was wondering what are the possible meaning of the word when it is included in the name of a website. Because it seems to me that any website can act as a 'hub' (a network/activity site).

(One example is GitHub).

share|improve this question
2  
See the second definition. – Zairja Oct 11 '12 at 15:10
1  
As Zairja says, so GitHub is a hub for Git. – Matt Эллен Oct 11 '12 at 15:31
In the name of a website, hub means whatever the namer of the website wanted -- and could mean anything, or nothing at all. This question cannot be settled by recourse to facts and reasoning. Voting to close "not constructive". – MετάEd Oct 11 '12 at 15:35

closed as general reference by MετάEd, coleopterist, Gnawme, Daniel δ, Mitch Oct 11 '12 at 17:44

This question is too basic; it can be definitively and permanently answered by a single link to a standard internet reference source designed specifically to find that type of information. See the Help Center for guidance on how to improve it.

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

If nothing else, it's a section to do stuff. Stuff can be anything, really. A website can have many hubs such as a forum or news feed. Found this image that describes it fairly well:

Website

So a hub describes a "facet" of some task that needs to be performed on that site.

share|improve this answer
but according to the definition, shouldn't it be the 'center'? – janoChen Oct 11 '12 at 15:28
From my understanding of the word, the whole site could be considered a 'hub' to do all those things as well. That doesn't disqualify the meaning I gave though I don't believe. I see a 'hub' as simply a 'place' of gathering for a central purpose. Example: In networking, a 'hub' is basically a connection point between other hubs or computers, but sometimes people refer to the computer a 'hub'. I don't know, maybe I'm looking too deep into this. – Christopher Bales Oct 11 '12 at 15:33
1  
@janoChen This seems like nitpicking. Simply looking at the visual, one can see the website is the "center", with various facets acting as "spokes". In the question, GitHub is a center for projects that use Git revision control. It's self-explanatory. Likewise, GrubHub is a center for food (grub), where you can look at menus, order online, rate restaurants, and so on. – Zairja Oct 11 '12 at 15:41
up vote 1 down vote

In your case the second definition applies. GitHub is a web based central repository, network or hub that uses the Git revision control system for hosting development projects. To better understand the concept here are a few examples:

The kitchen was the hub of family life.(from Oxford dictionary)

Chicago is a hub for many cities in the Midwest.

English.SE is a hub for English enthusiasts.

share|improve this answer

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