message queue
compound.compound. a digital waiting room for computer messages. It lets one program send information to another program even if the second one is busy or offline.
compound. an asynchronous communication component that stores data packets or tasks until they can be processed by a receiving application. It decouples the sender from the receiver, allowing systems to scale and handle traffic spikes without losing data.
The server uses a message queue to handle thousands of user requests.
When you upload a video, the website puts the file in a message queue so the processing server can work on it later.
By implementing a robust message queue, the architecture ensures that even if the database experiences a temporary outage, incoming transactions are preserved and processed once connectivity is restored.
A compound of the Old French 'message', denoting a mission or communication, and the Middle English 'queue', derived from the Latin 'cauda' for tail. The term emerged from early telecommunications and mainframe computing to describe the sequential ordering of data packets.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Commonly used in software architecture and distributed systems; often paired with verbs like 'push to', 'pull from', or 'consume'.
Last updated July 22, 2026