The abbreviated term internet, uncapitalized, began to be used in the early seventies; it was a shorthand term for the communications circuits and their controlling software which linked together the separate computer networks comprising the US military

The abbreviated term internet, uncapitalized, began to be used in the early seventies; it was a shorthand term for the communications circuits and their controlling software which linked together the separate computer networks comprising the US military ARPANET system. By the early eighties, the number of linkages had grown greatly to include many universities and other research bodies; by then the word had gained an initial capital letter, referring to the set of computer systems connected in this way as a single unique entity.