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As an English learner, I sometimes got confused the difference between spreadsheet and sheet.

Though I know what they mean, it seems that they both are referring to data in a table.

If I Google these words, most of the results are about how to use the software or features of the software.

However, I would really like to know what is the difference and why the word "spread" is used in the word.

Thanks

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Sheet has several meanings: bedlinen, a flat area of something, a sheet of paper. The term spreadsheet has been coined for a particular computer application for manipulating data as though on a printed page, and that is what we would normally call such software. Google Sheets seems to be their own name for their own particular version of spreadsheets.

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    The word "spreadsheet" predates computer software. It was originally a term for a bookkeeping table that was so large that it spread across two pages of an account book or was printed on double-size paper. This term was adopted by software companies to imply that the software is useful for keeping track of large tables of data.
    – Canadian Yankee
    Commented Nov 4, 2020 at 14:09
  • @CanadianYankee Thanks very much, this is the answer I'm looking for.
    – AGamePlayer
    Commented Nov 6, 2020 at 8:57

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