"Sign up" vs. "signup"

Question

When we have a button on a website for creating an account, should it say "sign up" or "signup"?

I see "sign up" in most places, but which is the correct one?

I have never seen 'signup'; could you provide a link to a place where it appears? — , Jun 20 '12 at 20:31

score 74 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 20 '12 at 20:31

74

It should be sign up, as that is the verb form (see definition 30). Signup (or sign-up) is a noun.

That pattern usually holds: log in (verb) vs. login (noun), sit up (verb) vs. situp (noun), etc.

answered Jun 20 '12 at 20:31

Daniel

3

Sounds legit :) – Harry Dobrev Jun 20 '12 at 20:31
31

or maybe leg it :D – Lipis Jan 31 '14 at 17:30
1

@Lipis :D Nice try :) – Harry Dobrev Jan 31 '14 at 22:31
3

@Lipis just created an account only to give you an upvote lol – mario.schlipf Oct 22 '15 at 07:31
1

It depends on how the other buttons on that page are labeled. If they are all phrased as verbs, use "sign up". If they are nouns, use "signup". As a noun, it can be construed as "pressing this button gets you to the signup page". – Brian Hitchcock Oct 01 '17 at 19:15
4

Another illustrative example is "Checkout", meaning "proceed to the CHECKOUT screen" or "initiate a process called CHECKOUT". "Checkout" is fine by itself, but wrong if next to a button that offers the alternative "Continue Shopping". In that case, for consistency, the button should say "Check Out" (or{Go|Proceed} to Checkout). – Brian Hitchcock Oct 01 '17 at 19:38

1 Answers1