It's because Redux was specifically written as "just another library implementing the Flux Architecture", and Flux used the term "action". See Dan's comments a

It's because Redux was specifically written as "just another library implementing the Flux Architecture", and Flux used the term "action". See Dan's comments at https://github.com/reduxjs/redux/issues/891#issuecomment-147666329 https://github.com/reduxjs/redux/issues/891#issuecomment-147... and https://github.com/reduxjs/redux/issues/377#issuecomment-126589473 https://github.com/reduxjs/redux/issues/377#issuecomment-126... for justification and links to prior discussions.