# InnerSource Spelling

We recommend the spelling **InnerSource**.

We encourage you to use the word as a proper noun (like “We use InnerSource in that repo.”) wherever possible. We discourage the use of verb forms of the word (like “We’re InnerSourcing that repo”).

## Full story - Why we care about the spelling

**InnerSource** is an artificial term that does necessarily have a spelling that would naturally be correct. Therefore you will find various spellings when you search for the term online.

We favor the spelling **InnerSource**, for the following reasons:

1. That’s the way Tim O’Reilly [spelled it in 2000][opengl_1200] (he was into Perl and camel-case was a thing). Also see the [Foreword of the Adopting InnerSource book][foreword_AdoptingInnerSource] for more of Tim O’Reilly's own words on the topic.
2. If you set up side-by-side Google searches for “Inner Source” and “InnerSource” you will find that you get more hits on the former term, by only 1% of them have anything to do with what we call InnerSource. The latter term will be 100% cogent to your inquiry.
3. The OSI was [denied trademark on the term “open source”][no-open-source-trademark] because it was made up of two common and unrelated terms. “InnerSource” on the other hand is a new word.

## But the spelling isn't even consistent in the InnerSource Patterns repo!

You are right, it isn't consistent. Not yet! But we are getting there. :)

The reason you see multiple spellings in our documentation is that it was built over a period of years during which our thinking on the spelling crystallized.

For new patterns we stick to the spelling **InnerSource**. Old patterns will be reworked over time to use this spelling as well.

## It can be hard to use the term "InnerSource" in a sentence

Some people have had a hard time with the camel-case term **InnerSource** because they’re not sure how to use it in a sentence grammatically.

We recommend not to turn the term into a verb, but rather using it as a noun or adjective.

Recommended use:

> “We use InnerSource in that repo.”<br/>
“We use InnerSource methods in that repo.”<br/>
“We follow InnerSource development methods in that repo.”<br/>
“We published the repository as InnerSource.”

Not so good:

> “We’re InnerSourcing that repo.”

[opengl_1200]: https://web.archive.org/web/20180411080939/http://archive.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/ask_tim/2000/opengl_1200.html
[foreword_AdoptingInnerSource]: https://innersourcecommons.org/documents/books/AdoptingInnerSource.pdf
[no-open-source-trademark]: https://opensource.org/pressreleases/certified-open-source.php
