this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026
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No, GTK (GIMP Toolkit) is a different thing. Specifically, it is a user interface widget library that uses code originally developed to implement the user interface for GIMP (to replace the Motif widgets it had been using before). Nowadays, GTK is used in a bunch of applications, not just GIMP.
First came GNU (GNU's Not UNIX), then came GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), then finally GTK (GIMP ToolKit).
Which means the full name of GTK is therefore "GNU's Not Unix Image Manipulation Program ToolKit," BTW.
It's an acronym inside of an acronym inside of an acronym. In fact, it's acronyms all the way down. Infinite recursion.