Pinged

Pinged is the past tense of ping, a verb used to indicate that a signal or message has been sent to check status or reachability. In technology and everyday digital communication, to ping something or someone is to prompt a response or test a connection.

In networking, a ping typically refers to sending an ICMP echo request to a target host and awaiting an ICMP echo reply. The exchange measures round-trip time and packet loss, helping diagnose connectivity and latency issues. The classic ping utility was created by Mike Muuss in 1983; the term was chosen for its sonar-inspired connotation. Results usually report minimum, maximum, and average latency and may show jitter or packet loss.

In social and computing contexts, "ping" can mean sending a brief message to prompt a response, such as an email, chat message, or notification. People say they "pinged" someone when they contacted them, reminded them, or checked whether they were available. The usage is widespread in professional and consumer software and is sometimes accompanied by a request for a reply or action.

Usage considerations include the potential for interrupting recipients and generating unnecessary traffic in networks that rate-limit or filter ICMP traffic. Some environments discourage or restrict ICMP pings for security reasons, while others use pinging as part of monitoring systems or uptime checks. In all cases, "pinged" denotes an attempt to elicit a response or verify reachability.