101

English

Etymology 1

From the method of numbering courses in US colleges, the initial (introductory) course commonly being numbered "101".

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈwʌnˌoʊ̯ˈwʌn/ (one-oh-one)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

101 (not comparable)

1. (chiefly US, Canada, alone or postpositive) Basic, beginner-level, starting from scratch (commonly used as a label appended sarcastically, humorously, etc., to topics that would never form the title of an actual college course).

   Geology 101 tells us that you can't build a reservoir on sandstone.

   My dog flunked out of Crate Training 101.

   • 2003 June 22, Holly Henderson, Liz Tigelaar, “Ski Trip”, in Totally Spies!, season 2, episode 21, spoken by Samantha “Sam” (Jennifer Hale), Marathon Media, via Teletoon:

     Ugh! Crash and burn! Next year, I’m taking flirting 101! I am so not good at this!

   • 2004, Daniel Dor, “From Englishization to Imposed Multilingualism: Globalization, the Internet, and the Political Economy of the Linguistic Code”, in Public Culture, volume 16, number 1:

     Companies sell directories, databases, reports, translation services, automatic translation software, and guidebooks for doing business away from home, which, in some cases, look much like simplified textbooks for Anthropology 101.

   • 2009 November 1, Bob Schieffer, “Face the Nation”, in CBS News:

     "A Class in Nation-Building 101": As the President tries to develop a new strategy in Afghanistan, I wonder if this is the real lesson that we've learned in Afghanistan so far: that nation-building, like charity, probably begins at home.

   • 2017, Norm Macdonald Live, season 3, episode 11, spoken by Norm Macdonald:

     I'm taking a fascinating class all about the Hollywood Freeway. It's called 101: 101.

   • 2023 March 20, Rebecca Gillam, Bridie Wilkins, “Alexandra Daddario and her PT on how she built her Baywatch bod + her 10 regular workout rules”, in Women's Health:

     However much you work out, but especially if it’s a lot, learning correct form and focusing on keeping your body safe is 101 — not just while exercising, but also how you move around day to day.

Translations

basic, beginner

• Czech: začátečnický m, základní (cs), úvodní (cs)
• Esperanto: enkonduka, baza
• Finnish: alkeet (fi) pl, alkeis- (fi)
• French: le b.a.-ba de (fr) m, l’abc de (fr) m, les bases de (fr) f pl, élémentaire (fr)
• German: Einführung (de), Einmaleins (de) n, für Anfänger
• Hungarian: bevezető (hu), egyszeregy (hu), kezdőknek, alapjai
• Japanese: 入門 (ja) (nyūmon)
• Polish: podstawy f pl, początkujący (pl) m, od początku, abc (pl)
• Russian: основы (ru) f pl (osnovy)
• Swedish: abc (sv) c or n (noun)
• Vietnamese: nhập môn (vi)

Etymology 2

Symbolizing more than 100, an already large number.

Pronunciation

• There is a difference in pronunciation depending on the person. Many people still use "one hundred and one" or “a hundred and one”, a pattern that is followed with almost all numbers after 101. However, in the United States it is common to hear the "and" omitted, simply "one hundred one".

Number

101

1. (informal) A large number, particularly the size of an exhaustively long and varied list of examples, uses, applications, etc.
   • 1996, Samela Harris, “Introduction”, in On a Shoestring: Recipes from the House of the Raising Sons, Wakefield Press, →ISBN, page vii:

     [T]o offset the massive cost of learning 101 ways to embellish spatchcock, perhaps the readers may need 101 ways to cook two-minute noodles.

Anagrams

• 110%, 110

Turkish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jyz ˈbiɾ/
• Hyphenation: yüz‧bir

Noun

101 (definite accusative 101'i, plural 101'ler)

1. (colloquial) Abbreviation of A101, a retail company
2. Abbreviation of okey 101, a variant of okey
   • 2021 October 30, Twitter.com‎^[1], archived from the original on January 5, 2023:

     Ders çalışıyorum arkadaşlarım 101’e çağırıyor hadi gel de gitme

     Here I am studying and my friends are inviting me over for a game of 101 how am I supposed to resist that?