'notebook' originates from the combination of 'note' and 'book', where 'note' meant 'a brief record' and 'book' referred to 'a set of written or printed pages'.

'notebook' evolved from the Middle English 'noteboke', which was a combination of 'note' and 'boke', eventually becoming the modern English word 'notebook'.

Initially, it meant 'a book for writing notes', but over time it also came to mean 'a small, portable computer'.