Glossary
BIP39
The Bitcoin Improvement Proposal that defines mnemonic seed phrases — the 2048-word list, the checksum, and how words become a wallet seed.
BIP39 ("Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 39") is the open standard that defines how a crypto wallet turns randomness into a memorable seed phrase and back into a master seed. It specifies a fixed list of 2048 words, the rules for mapping entropy to those words, and a checksum appended to the end so invalid phrases can be caught.
Because BIP39 is widely implemented, a phrase created in one wallet typically restores in another. The checksum is what makes recovery possible — it shrinks an otherwise impossible search down to a handful of valid candidates.