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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

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English

bit

/ˈbɪt/
A small amount of something.

    Etymology graph

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    • borrowed
    • derived
    • parts
    • meaning component
    • sound component
    • related
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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English bitte, bite, from Old English bita (“bit; fragment; morsel”) and bite (“a bite; cut”), from Proto-Germanic *bitô and *bitiz; both from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”). More at bite.

    Cognates

    Cognate with West Frisian bit, Saterland Frisian Bit, Dutch bit, German Low German Beet, Biet, German Biss and Bissen, Danish bid, Swedish bit, Icelandic biti.

    Etymology 2

    See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

    See bite. Replaced a former strong past tense, seen in Middle English bot and Old English bāt.

    Etymology 3

    Coined by John Tukey in 1946 as an abbreviation of binary digit, probably influenced by connotations of “small portion”. First used in print 1948 by Claude Shannon. Compare byte and nybble, with similar food associations.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • derivedEnglishbinary digit “Either of the characters 0 and 1, used in the binary numeral system.”
      • derivedEnglishbinary “Being in one of two mutually exclusive states.”
        • inheritedMiddle Englishbinarie
          • learned borrowingLate Latinbīnārius “consisting of two”
            • partLatinbīnus
              • partLatinbis “twice, at two times, on two occasions”
                • inheritedOld Latinduis
                  • inheritedProto-Italic*dwis
                    • inheritedProto-Indo-European*dwís “in two, apart”
                      • derivedProto-Indo-European*dwóh₁ “two”
                      • derivedProto-Indo-European*trís
                      • derived (ultimately)Proto-Indo-European*h₃réǵeti “to be straightening, setting upright”
                      • derived (ultimately)Proto-Indo-European*ser- “to watch over, protect”
              • partLatin-nus
                • inheritedProto-Italic*-nos
                  • inheritedProto-Indo-European*-nós
            • partLatin-ārius “-ary”
              • inheritedProto-Italic*-āzios
                • derivedProto-Indo-European*-yós
        • partEnglishbin-
        • partEnglish-ary “Of or pertaining to. Adjectival suffix appended to various words, often nouns, to produce an adject…”
          • inheritedMiddle English-arie
      • derivedEnglishdigit “A position in a sequence of numerals representing a place value in a positional number system.”
        • inheritedMiddle Englishdigit
          • borrowedLatindigitus “finger, toe, digit”
            • derivedProto-Indo-European*deyḱ- “to show”

    Related: West Frisian bit, Saterland Frisian Bit, Dutch bit, German Low German Beet, German Biss, Danish bid, Swedish bit, Icelandic biti

    Meanings

    noun
    1. A small amount of something.
    2. A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to the reins to direct the animal.
    3. A rotary cutting tool, fitted to a drill, brace, or router, used to bore or drill holes or to remove material from the profile of the workpiece.
    4. A coin of a specified value.
    5. A unit of currency worth one eighth of a dollar, originally of a Spanish dollar but later also US or Canadian; also, a coin with this value, in particular the silver Spanish real.
    6. A coin of a value similar but not equal to this, in particular the ‘short bit’, i.e. the ten-cent piece or dime.
    verb
    1. To put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of (a horse).
    adj
    1. Having been bitten.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: bit