Bit

From Fresh Dictionary

See also: Bit

Contents

English


Pronunciation

Etymology

Likely to be from same source as Old English (Anglo-Saxon) bita and bite, or from those words themselves; the monetary sense derives from Caribbean or South US practice of cutting Spanish dollars into eighths.

Noun

bit (plural bits)

  1. A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to reins to direct the animal.
  2. A rotary cutting tool fitted to a drill, used to make holes.
  3. An eighth of a dollar.
    A quarter is two bits.
  4. (dated UK) A coin of a specified value.
    threepenny bit
  5. A small piece of something.
    There were bits of paper all over the floor.
  6. A portion of something
    I'd like a big bit of cake, please.
  7. (slang) A prison sentence.
  8. (computing) The smallest possible amount (quantum) of computer storage or information: a location or object capable of recording a single, binary 1/0 value.

Synonyms

Translations

metal in horse's mouth

rotary cutting tool

  • Dutch: bit m
  • German: Bohrer m

eighth of a dollar

coin See coin

small piece

  • unit of information

The translations below need to be checked and inserted into the appropriate table(s) above, removing any numbers. Bear in mind that there are separate pages for different capitalisations. If a translation table directs the user to another page, then move the translation to that page.

When initially tagging an entry with this template, be sure to enclose each language in a {{ttbc|...}} tag to subcategorize it properly. For example, the line

*[[French]]: [[jour]] {{m}}<tt> should become <tt>*{{ttbc|French}}: [[jour]] {{m}}

Translations to be checked

The translations below need to be checked and inserted into the appropriate table(s) above, removing any numbers. Bear in mind that there are separate pages for different capitalisations. If a translation table directs the user to another page, then move the translation to that page.

When initially tagging an entry with this template, be sure to enclose each language in a {{ttbc|...}} tag to subcategorize it properly. For example, the line

*[[French]]: [[jour]] {{m}}<tt> should become <tt>*{{ttbc|French}}: [[jour]] {{m}}

Verb

bit

  1. Past tense of to bite
    Your dog bit me!

Derived terms


Etymology

Coined by John Tukey in 1948 as an abbreviation of binary digit, probably influenced by connotations of "small portion". Compare byte and nibble

Noun

bit (plural bits)

  1. (mathematics, computing) A binary digit, generally represented as a 1 or 0.
  2. (computing) The smallest unit of storage in a digital computer, consisting of a binary digit.
  3. (information theory, cryptography) Any datum that may take on one of exactly two values.

Translations

binary digit

  • Dutch: bit m
  • Finnish: bitti
  • French: bit m
  • German: Bit n

smallest unit of storage

  • Dutch: bit m
  • Finnish: bitti
  • German: Bit n
  • Japanese: ビット (bitto)

datum that may take on one of exactly two values

  • Dutch: bit m
  • German: Bit n
Translations to be checked

The translations below need to be checked and inserted into the appropriate table(s) above, removing any numbers. Bear in mind that there are separate pages for different capitalisations. If a translation table directs the user to another page, then move the translation to that page.

When initially tagging an entry with this template, be sure to enclose each language in a {{ttbc|...}} tag to subcategorize it properly. For example, the line

*[[French]]: [[jour]] {{m}}<tt> should become <tt>*{{ttbc|French}}: [[jour]] {{m}}

  • Bulgarian: бит m (5,6)
  • Indonesian: bit (5,6)
  • Interlingua: bit (5,6)
  • Portuguese: bit m (5,6)

Derived terms

See also


Croatian

Noun

bit

  1. (gen.) essence.

Dutch

Noun

bit n

  1. bit (for a horse)
  2. bit (rotary cutting tool)
  3. bit (binary digit)
  4. bit (unit of storage)
  5. bit (datum with two possible values)

Swedish

Inflections of bit Common
Singular Plural
Indefinite form Definite form Indefinite form Definite form
Nominative bit biten bitar bitarna
Genitive bits bitens bitars bitarnas

Noun

bit

  1. bit (small piece)
  2. bit (binary digit)
  3. bit (unit of storage)

Verb

bit

  1. imperative of bita

See also


Turkish

Verb form

bit

  1. endcs:bit

et:bit es:bit fr:bit io:bit it:bit hu:bit pl:bit fi:bit tr:bit zh:bit

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