byte

noun
/baɪt/

A short sequence of bits (binary digits) that can be operated on as a unit by a computer; the smallest usable machine word.

Other meanings

A unit of computing storage equal to eight bits, which can represent any of 256 distinct values.
“The word “hello” fits into five bytes of ASCII code.”

Related words

kilobyte
megabyte
gigabyte
byte order
byte bucket
terabyte
petabyte
exabyte
zettabyte
yottabyte
brontobyte
bytecode

Example sentences

“A standard byte is eight bits.”
Tatoeba · shekitten · CC0

Where this comes from

This definition is adapted from “byte” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.