byte

See also: Byte and bytě

English

Etymology

An alteration of the word bite so it would not be accidentally misspelled as bit. Coined by Werner Buchholz in 1956, during the early design phase for the IBM 7030 Stretch computer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪt
• Homophones: bight, bite, by't

Noun

byte (plural bytes)

1. (computing) A short sequence of bits (binary digits) that can be operated on as a unit by a computer; the smallest usable machine word.
2. (computing, most commonly) A unit of computing storage equal to eight bits, which can represent any of 256 distinct values.

   Synonyms: B, octet

   The word “hello” fits into five bytes of ASCII code.

Derived terms

(unit of storage): {{col4|en|title=Compound words |kilobyte |megabyte |gigabyte |terabyte |petabyte |exabyte |zettabyte |yottabyte

other phrases

• byte code
• byte order mark
• least significant byte
• most significant byte
• multi-byte

 

Coordinate terms

(unit of storage):

• Previous: bit
• Next: kilobyte

(machine word):

• Previous: nybble
• Next: word

Translations

8-bit unit

• Afrikaans: greep (af)
• Arabic: بَايْت‎ m (bāyt)
• Armenian: բայտ (hy) (bayt)
• Azerbaijani: bayt
• Belarusian: байт m (bajt)
• Bengali: বাইট (baiṭ)
• Breton: eizhbit (br) m
• Bulgarian: байт m (bajt)
• Burmese: ဘိုက် (bhuik)
• Catalan: byte (ca) m, octet m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 字節, 字节 (zi⁶ zit³), 位元組, 位元组 (wai⁶ jyun⁴ zou²)

  Mandarin: 字節 (zh), 字节 (zh) (zìjié), 位元組 (zh), 位元组 (zh) (wèiyuánzǔ)

• Czech: bajt (cs) m, byte (cs) m
• Esperanto: bitoko, bajto
• Estonian: bait (et)
• Finnish: tavu (fi)
• French: octet (fr) m
• Galician: byte (gl) m
• Georgian: ბაიტი (baiṭi)
• German: Byte (de) n
• Greek: μπάιτ (báit), δυφιοσυλλαβή (el) (dyfiosyllaví), δυφιοοκτάδα (el) (dyfiooktáda)
• Hebrew: בַּיִת‎ (he) (báyit)
• Hindi: बाइट (bāiṭ)
• Hungarian: byte (hu)
• Icelandic: bæti (is) n, (computer character) tölvustafur m
• Ido: bicoko (io)
• Interlingua: byte
• Italian: byte (it) m
• Japanese: バイト (ja) (baito)
• Kazakh: байт (bait)
• Khmer: បៃ (km) (bai)
• Korean: 바이트 (ko) (baiteu)

• Kyrgyz: байт (bayt)
• Lao: ໄບຕ໌ (bait), ໄບ (bai)
• Latin: octetus m
• Latvian: baits m
• Lithuanian: baitas (lt) m
• Lü: ᦢᦺ (ḃay)
• Macedonian: бајт m (bajt)
• Malay: bait
• Maori: paita
• Navajo: łaʼííłké
• Northern Thai: ᨷᩱ
• Persian: بایت‎ (fa) (bâyt)
• Polish: bajt (pl) m
• Portuguese: byte (pt) m, baite (pt) m
• Romanian: byte (ro) m, octet (ro) m
• Russian: байт (ru) m (bajt), окте́т (ru) m (oktét)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бајт m

  Roman: bajt (sh) m

• Sinhalese: බයිට (bayiṭa)
• Slovak: bajt m, byte m
• Spanish: byte (es) m
• Swedish: byte (sv) c
• Tajik: байт (tg) (bayt)
• Thai: ไบต์ (th) (bái)
• Turkish: bayt (tr)
• Ukrainian: байт (uk) m (bajt)
• Urdu: لکمہ‎
• Uyghur: بايت‎ (bayt)
• Uzbek: bayt (uz)
• Vietnamese: byte (vi)
• Zulu: isimumathalwazi

See also

• word, doubleword, longword, char

Further reading

• byte on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• beyt

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Czech

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

• bajt

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbajt]

Noun

byte m

1. byte

Derived terms

• kilobyte
• megabyte
• gigabyte
• terabyte

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɪtɛ]
• Homophone: bite

Noun

byte

1. vocative singular of byt

Further reading

• byte in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu
• byte in Akademický slovník cizích slov, 1995, at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz

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Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from English byte.

Noun

byte

1. (slang, rare) byte

Declension

Inflection of byte (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)
nominative		byte	bytet
genitive		byten	bytejen
partitive		byteä	bytejä
illative		byteen	byteihin
		singular	plural
nominative		byte	bytet
accusative	nom.	byte	bytet
	gen.	byten
genitive		byten	bytejen byteinrare
partitive		byteä	bytejä
inessive		bytessä	byteissä
elative		bytestä	byteistä
illative		byteen	byteihin
adessive		bytellä	byteillä
ablative		byteltä	byteiltä
allative		bytelle	byteille
essive		bytenä	byteinä
translative		byteksi	byteiksi
instructive		—	bytein
abessive		bytettä	byteittä
comitative		—	byteineen

Possessive forms of byte (type nalle)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	byteni	bytemme
2nd person	bytesi	bytenne
3rd person	bytensä

Synonyms

• tavu

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Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowed from English byte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbaːjt]
• Hyphenation: byte
• Rhymes: -aːjt
• Homophone: bájt

Noun

byte (plural byte-ok)

1. (computing) byte (a unit of computing storage equal to eight bits)

Usage notes

It also occurs in the form bájt (along with its prefixed forms), but this spelling is not supported by most authoritative spelling dictionaries.

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	byte	byte-ok
accusative	byte-ot	byte-okat
dative	byte-nak	byte-oknak
instrumental	byte-tal	byte-okkal
causal-final	byte-ért	byte-okért
translative	byte-tá	byte-okká
terminative	byte-ig	byte-okig
essive-formal	byte-ként	byte-okként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	byte-ban	byte-okban
superessive	byte-on	byte-okon
adessive	byte-nál	byte-oknál
illative	byte-ba	byte-okba
sublative	byte-ra	byte-okra
allative	byte-hoz	byte-okhoz
elative	byte-ból	byte-okból
delative	byte-ról	byte-okról
ablative	byte-tól	byte-októl
non-attributive possessive - singular	byte-é	byte-oké
non-attributive possessive - plural	byte-éi	byte-okéi

Possessive forms of byte
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	byte-om	byte-jaim
2nd person sing.	byte-od	byte-jaid
3rd person sing.	byte-ja	byte-jai
1st person plural	byte-unk	byte-jaink
2nd person plural	byte-otok	byte-jaitok
3rd person plural	byte-juk	byte-jaik

Further reading

• byte in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (’A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2022)
• Biró, János. Helyesírási kérdések A magyar nyelv nagyszótárának írása közben (“Questions of spelling while compiling the Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”) (see page 5 in the PDF, page 55 in the original)

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English byte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbajt/
• Rhymes: -ajt

Noun

byte m (invariable)

1. (computing) byte

   Synonym: bicarattere

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Middle English

Verb

byte

1. Alternative form of biten

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Portuguese

Alternative forms

• baite

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbajt(ʃ)(i)/

Noun

byte m (plural bytes)

1. (computing) byte (unit equivalent to 8 bits)

Synonyms

• Abbreviations: B

Coordinate terms

• Multiples: kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte, petabyte, exabyte, zettabyte, yottabyte

Related terms

• bit

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Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English byte.

Noun

byte m (plural byți)

1. (computing) byte

Declension

Declension of byte

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) byte	byteul	(niște) byți	byții
genitive/dative	(unui) byte	byteului	(unor) byți	byților
vocative	byteule		byților

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Slovak

Alternative forms

• bajt

Noun

byte m

1. byte

Further reading

• byte in Slovak dictionaries at slovnik.juls.savba.sk

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Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English byte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbait/, [ˈbai̯t̪]

Noun

byte m (plural bytes)

1. byte

Further reading

• “byte”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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Swedish

Etymology 1

Related to byta (“to change, to exchange, to swap”)

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈbyːtɛ/

Noun

byte n

1. trading, exchange, change
2. catch, plunder, loot

Declension

Declension of byte
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	byte	bytet	byten	bytena
Genitive	bytes	bytets	bytens	bytenas

Etymology 2

Unadapted borrowing from English byte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bajt/, /baɪt/

Noun

byte c

1. a byte (8 bits, in computers)

Declension

Declension of byte
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	byte	byten	byte	byten
Genitive	bytes	bytens	bytes	bytens

References

• byte in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)