Reference

Last updated on 2026-04-17 | Edit this page

Glossary

Item
A Wikidata entity representing a thing or concept, such as a person, place, or work. Each item has a unique identifier beginning with “Q” (e.g. Q42 for Douglas Adams).
Property
A defined relationship or attribute used in Wikidata statements. Each property has a unique identifier beginning with “P” (e.g. P31 for “instance of”).
Statement
A claim about an item, consisting of a property and a value, optionally supported by references and qualifiers.
Triple
The basic data structure of RDF and Wikidata, consisting of a subject, predicate, and object (item – property – value).
Label
The human-readable name of an item or property, which can exist in multiple languages.
Description
A short phrase that helps distinguish an item from similar items, available in multiple languages.
Alias
An alternative name for an item, used to improve searchability.
Qualifier
Additional information that refines a statement, such as a time period or a location.
Reference
A source that supports a statement, such as a URL or a publication.
Identifier
A property that links a Wikidata item to an entry in an external database, such as VIAF, ORCID, or the Library of Congress Name Authority File.
SPARQL
A query language for RDF data, used to search and retrieve information from Wikidata via the Wikidata Query Service at https://query.wikidata.org/.
RDF (Resource Description Framework)
A standard model for data interchange on the web, based on triples.
Wikidata Query Service
The SPARQL endpoint for Wikidata, available at https://query.wikidata.org/, which allows users to run queries against the Wikidata knowledge graph.
Test instance
A separate version of Wikidata at https://test.wikidata.org/ used for practice and testing, which is regularly cleaned and does not affect the live database.
QuickStatements
A tool for bulk adding or editing Wikidata statements using tab-separated data.
Scholia
A tool built on Wikidata that generates scholarly profiles for researchers, organizations, and topics based on Wikidata data.

References