Markdown (MD) Glossary Definition

Markdown is a lightweight markup language and plain-text formatting syntax that uses simple, human-readable symbols to add structure and formatting to text.

Created by John Gruber in 2004, Markdown remains readable before rendering and can be converted to HTML, PDF, Word, and other formats.

Markdown is widely used for technical documentation, README files, API documentation, blogs, notes, and business writing because it is portable, fast to write, and easy to edit in ordinary text editors.

Its plain-text format works well with Git and docs-as-code workflows and it is commonly used with static site generators such as Jekyll, Hugo and Gatsby. Markdown files typically use the .md extension.