A string identifying a resource, whether or not it says how to reach it. It names before it locates.
Coined in the early 1990s for the founding vocabulary of the web, joining uniform (Latin uniformis, one form), resource (Latin resurgere, to rise again) and identifier (Latin idem, the same), naming a string that names a resource before it says how to reach one.
A string that names a resource, whether or not it says how to reach one, naming always comes before locating.