different between bit vs section

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: b?t, IPA^(key): /b?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

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 *b?eyd- (“to split”).

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.

Noun

bit (plural bits)

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, used to bore holes.
4. (dated, Britain) A coin of a specified value.

5. (obsolete, Canada) A ten-cent piece, dime.
   • 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 10, [3]

     The smallest coin we had in Canada in early days was a dime, worth ten cents. The Indians called this coin "a Bit". Our next coin, double in buying power and in size, was a twenty-five cent piece and this the Indians called "Two Bits".

6. (now US) A unit of currency or coin in the Americas worth a fraction of a Spanish dollar; now specifically, an eighth of a US dollar.
   • 1789, Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative, vol. I, ch. 6:

     I trusted to the Lord to be with me; and at one of our trips to St. Eustatia, a Dutch island, I bought a glass tumbler with my half bit, and when I came to Montserrat I sold it for a bit, or sixpence.

8. (historical, US) In the southern and southwestern states, a small silver coin (such as the real) formerly current; commonly, one worth about 12½ cents; also, the sum of 12½ cents.
9. A small amount of something.
10. (informal) Specifically, a small amount of time.

11. (in the plural, informal, sports) Fractions of a second.

12. A portion of something.

13. Somewhat; something, but not very great; also used like jot and whit to express the smallest degree. See also a bit.
    • T. Hook

      My young companion was a bit of a poet.

14. (slang) A prison sentence, especially a short one.
15. An excerpt of material making up part of a show, comedy routine, etc.

16. Short for bit part.

17. The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

18. The cutting iron of a plane.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

19. The bevelled front edge of an axehead along which the cutting edge runs.

Synonyms

• (coin): coin, piece
• (small piece): morsel (of food), piece, scrap
• (portion): portion, share, segment
• (horse equipment): snaffle, pelham, kimberwicke
• (prison sentence): bid

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

bit (third-person singular simple present bits, present participle bitting, simple past and past participle bitted)

1. (transitive) To put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of (a horse).

Etymology 2

See bite

Verb

bit

1. simple past tense of bite

   Your dog bit me!

2. (informal in US, archaic in Britain) past participle of bite, bitten

   I have been bit by your dog!

Adjective

bit (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) bitten.

2. (only in combination) Having been bitten.

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.

Noun

bit (plural bits)

2. (mathematics, computing) A binary digit, generally represented as a 1 or 0.
3. (computing) The smallest unit of storage in a digital computer, consisting of a binary digit.

   Synonym: b

5. (information theory, cryptography) Any datum that may take on one of exactly two values.

6. (information theory) A unit of measure for information entropy.

   • The researchers found that the original texts spanned a variety of entropy values in different languages, reflecting differences in grammar and structure.
     But strangely, the difference in entropy between the original, ordered text and the randomly scrambled text was constant across languages. This difference is a way to measure the amount of information encoded in word order, Montemurro says. The amount of information lost when they scrambled the text was about 3.5 bits per word.

7. A microbitcoin, or a millionth of a bitcoin (0.000001 BTC).

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• ban, nat, qubit

References

Anagrams

• Bti, ITB, TBI, TiB, tib

Azerbaijani

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *bït (“louse”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bit]

Noun

bit (definite accusative biti, plural bitl?r)

1. louse

Declension

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?bit/
• Rhymes: -it

Noun

bit m (plural bits)

1. (computing) bit

Czech

Etymology

From English bit, from binary digit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?t]
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

bit m

1. (computing) bit

Declension

Derived terms

• bitový
• osmibitový
• šestnáctibitový
• kilobit
• megabit
• gigabit
• terabit

Further reading

• bit in Kartotéka Novo?eského lexikálního archivu
• bit in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989
• bit in Akademický slovník cizích slov, 1995, at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?t/
• Hyphenation: bit
• Rhymes: -?t

Etymology 1

Ablaut of bijten.

Noun

bit n (plural bitten, diminutive bitje n)

1. bit (for a working animal)
2. bit (rotary cutting tool)
3. mouthguard

Etymology 2

From English bit.

Noun

bit m (plural bits, diminutive bitje n)

1. bit (binary digit)
2. bit (unit of storage)
3. bit (datum with two possible values)

French

Etymology

From English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bit/

Noun

bit m (plural bits)

1. (computing) bit

Derived terms

• bit le moins significatif
• bit le plus significatif

Further reading

• “bit” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Hungarian

Etymology

From English bit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?bit]
• Hyphenation: bit
• Rhymes: -it

Noun

bit (plural bitek)

1. (computing) bit (binary digit)

Declension

Derived terms

• jelz?bit

References

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?t]
• Hyphenation: bit

Etymology 1

From English bit (“binary digit”).

Noun

bit (first-person possessive bitku, second-person possessive bitmu, third-person possessive bitnya)

1. (computing) bit, smallest unit of storage.

Etymology 2

From Dutch biet (“binary digit”).

Noun

bit (first-person possessive bitku, second-person possessive bitmu, third-person possessive bitnya)

1. Beta vulgaris, common beet, beetroot, sugar beet, and chard.

Further reading

• “bit” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Lashi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bit/

Noun

bit

1. sun

References

• Hkaw Luk (2017) A grammatical sketch of Lacid?^[6], Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis)

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?it/

Verb

bit

1. supine of bi?

Nigerian Pidgin

Etymology

From English beat.

Verb

bit

1. beat

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse biti

Noun

bit m (definite singular biten, indefinite plural biter, definite plural bitene)

1. a bit, piece (of something)
2. a bite, mouthful (of food)

Derived terms

• isbit
• smakebit

Etymology 2

From English bit (binary digit)

Noun

bit m (definite singular biten, indefinite plural bit or biter, definite plural bitene)

1. a bit (binary digit)

References

• “bit” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi?t/

Noun

bit m (definite singular biten, indefinite plural bitar, definite plural bitane)

1. a bit, piece (of something)

Derived terms

• isbit
• smakebit

Etymology 2

From English bit (binary digit)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?t?/

Noun

bit m (definite singular biten, indefinite plural bit or bitar, definit plural bitane)

1. a bit (binary digit)

Etymology 3

From Old Norse bit

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi?t/

Noun

bit n (definite singular bitet, indefinite plural bit, definite plural bita)

1. a bite (e.g. insect bite, dog bite)
2. a bite, mouthful (of food)

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi?t/

Verb

bit

1. inflection of bite:
   1. present
   2. imperative

References

• “bit” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Irish

Verb

bit

1. third-person plural future of is

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English bit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bit??(i)/, /?bit(i)/

Noun

bit m (plural bits)

1. (mathematics, computing) bit (binary digit)

Synonyms

• Abbreviations: b

Coordinate terms

• Multiples: kilobit, megabit, gigabit, terabit, petabit, exabit, zettabit, yottabit

Related terms

• byte (unit equivalent to 8 bits)

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology 1

From b?ti (“to be”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bî?t/

Noun

b?t f (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. essence
2. point, meaning

Declension

Etymology 2

From English bit

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bît/

Noun

b?t m (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. (computing) bit

Declension

Slavomolisano

Etymology

From Serbo-Croatian biti, from Proto-Slavic *byti, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *b???tei, from Proto-Indo-European *b?uH-.

Verb

bit pf or impf

1. to be

References

• Walter Breu and Giovanni Piccoli (2000), Dizionario croato molisano di Acquaviva Collecroce: Dizionario plurilingue della lingua slava della minoranza di provenienza dalmata di Acquaviva Collecroce in Provincia di Campobasso (Parte grammaticale)., pp. 409–412

Spanish

Etymology

From English bit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bit/, [?bit?]

Noun

bit m (plural bits)

1. bit (binary digit)

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse biti, noun definitions 2 and 4: From English bit, from binary digit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi?t/ (1–4)
• IPA^(key): /b?t/ (3–4)

Noun

bit c

1. bit (small piece)
2. bit (portion)
3. bit (binary digit)
4. bit (unit of storage)
5. bit (piece of music)

Declension

Related terms

• pusselbit
• sockerbit

Verb

bit

1. imperative of bita.

Turkish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bit/

Etymology 1

From Ottoman Turkish ????, ???, from Proto-Turkic *bït (“louse”).

Noun

bit (definite accusative biti, plural bitler)

1. (zoology) louse

Declension

Derived terms

• bit yeni?i (fishy)
• bitli (lousy)

See also

• pire (flea)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English bit, abbreviation of binary digit.

Noun

bit (definite accusative biti, plural bitler)

1. (computing) bit

Declension

Etymology 3

Verb

bit

1. second-person singular imperative of bitmek

Turkmen

Etymology

From Old Turkic bit? (bit), from Proto-Turkic *b?t (“louse”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bit?/

Noun

bit (definite accusative bidi, plural bitler)

1. (zoology) louse

Declension

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà N?i) IPA^(key): [??it???]
• (Hu?) IPA^(key): [??it???]
• (H? Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [???t???]

Noun

bit

1. (computing) bit

Zhuang

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /pit?/
• Tone numbers: bit⁷
• Hyphenation: bit

Etymology 1

From Proto-Tai *pit? (“duck”). Cognate with Thai ???? (bpèt), Lao ???? (pet), Lü ??? (?ed), Tai Dam ????, Shan ????? (pét), Ahom ???????????????? (pit), Bouyei bidt, Saek ????. Compare Old Chinese ? (OC *p?id).

Noun

bit (classifier duz, Sawndip form ?, old orthography bit)

1. duck

Derived terms

• roegbit

Etymology 2

From Chinese ? (MC p?i?t?).

Noun

bit (classifier gaiq, Sawndip form ????, old orthography bit)

1. pen; pencil; writing implement

Classifier

bit (old orthography bit)

1. Classifier for sums of money and deals.

Etymology 3

From Chinese ? (MC p?i?t?).

Classifier

bit (old orthography bit)

1. Classifier for cloth: bolt of

See Wiktionary:Entry layout for the Wiktionary style guide for sections

English

Etymology

From Middle English seccioun, from Old French section, from Latin sectio (“cutting, cutting off, excision, amputation of diseased parts of the body, etc.”), from sectus, past participle of secare (“to cut”). More at saw.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: s?k?sh?n, IPA^(key): /?s?k??n/
• Rhymes: -?k??n
• Hyphenation: sec?tion

Noun

section (plural sections)

1. A cutting; a part cut out from the rest of something.
2. A part, piece, subdivision of anything.
   1. (music) A group of instruments in an orchestra.

3. A part of a document.
4. An act or instance of cutting.
5. A cross-section (image that shows an object as if cut along a plane).
   1. (aviation) A cross-section perpendicular the longitudinal axis of an aircraft in flight.
6. (surgery) An incision or the act of making an incision.
   1. (surgery, colloquial) Short for Caesarean section.
7. (sciences) A thin slice of material prepared as a specimen for research.
9. (botany) A taxonomic rank below the genus (and subgenus if present), but above the species.
10. (zoology) An informal taxonomic rank below the order ranks and above the family ranks.
11. (military) A group of 10-15 soldiers led by a non-commissioned officer and forming part of a platoon.
12. (category theory) A right inverse.
13. (New Zealand) A piece of residential land; a plot.
14. (Canada) A one-mile square area of land, defined by a government survey.
15. (US, historical) Any of the squares, each containing 640 acres, into which the public lands of the United States were divided.
16. The symbol §, denoting a section of a document.
17. (geology) A sequence of rock layers.

Synonyms

• (botany, zoology): sectio

• cutting, slice, snippet
• division, part, slice, piece
• volume

Antonyms

• whole

Hyponyms

Coordinate terms

• (aviation): waterline, buttock line

Derived terms

• bisection
• dissection
• sectionman
• trisection

Related terms

Translations

Verb

section (third-person singular simple present sections, present participle sectioning, simple past and past participle sectioned) (transitive)

1. To cut, divide or separate into pieces.
2. To reduce to the degree of thinness required for study with the microscope.
3. (Britain) To commit (a person, to a hospital, with or without their consent), as for mental health reasons. So called after various sections of legal acts regarding mental health.
   • 1998, Diana Gittins, Madness in its Place: Narratives of Severalls Hospital, 1913-1997, Routledge, ?ISBN, page 45:

     Tribunals were set up as watchdogs in cases of compulsory detention (sectioning). […] Informal patients, however, could be sectioned, and this was often a fear of patients once they were in hospital.

   • a. 2000, Lucy Johnstone, Users and Abusers of Psychiatry: A Critical Look at Psychiatric Practice, Second Edition, Routledge (2000), ?ISBN, page xiv:

     The doctor then sectioned her, making her an involuntary patient, and had her moved to a secure ward.

   • 2006, Mairi Colme, A Divine Dance of Madness, Chipmunkapublishing, ?ISBN, page 5:

     After explaining that for 7 years, from ’88 to ’95, I was permanently sectioned under the Mental Health act, robbed of my freedom, my integrity, my rights, I wrote at the time;- […]

   Synonym: (Australia) schedule

4. (medical): To perform a cesarean section on (someone).
   • 2012, Anne Fraser, St. Piran's: Daredevil, Doctor...Dad!, Harlequin, page 16:

     "But if she's gone into active labour she could be bleeding massively and you may have to section her there and then."

   • 2008, Murray et al, Labor and Delivery Nursing: Guide to Evidence-Based Practice, Springer Publishing Company, page 57:

     You may hear a physician say, "I don't want to section her until the baby declares itself."

Translations

Further reading

• section in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• section in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• section at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• ecotins, noetics, notices

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin secti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s?k.sj??/

Noun

section f (plural sections)

1. section (all meanings)

Further reading

• “section” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• notices

Interlingua

Etymology

From secar +? -ion, alternatively borrowed from Latin secti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sek?ti?on/

Noun

section (plural sectiones)

1. (act of) cutting
2. (surgery) section (all meanings)
3. section
   1. separation by cutting
   2. portion, division, subdivision
   3. (natural history, military, etc.) section
4. (geometry, drawing, etc.) section

Derived terms

• dissection
• intersection
• resection
• trisection
• vivisection
• sectionar