USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. It is an industry-standard technology developed to enable the connection, communication, and power supply between computers and various peripheral devices, such as keyboards, mice, printers, smartphones, and storage devices.

The term breaks down into:

• Universal: A common standard designed to work across a wide range of devices.
• Serial: Data is transmitted one bit at a time sequentially.
• Bus: A communication channel that allows multiple devices to be connected and communicate with a host system.

USB has evolved since its introduction in 1996 to support faster data transfer, power delivery, and versatile connector types like USB-C.