bit

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bit^¹

/ˈbɪt/
/ˈbɪ̝t/ Australia
/ˈbət/ New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɪt

Where it comes from

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.

noun bits

A small amount of something. There were bits of paper all over the floor.
Similar: morsel, piece, scrap, ace, atom, thought, atomy, aught, bissel, continental, bit, crumb
A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to the reins to direct the animal. A horse hates having a bit put in its mouth.
Similar: kimberwicke, pelham, snaffle
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. router bit
UK, dated A coin of a specified value. a threepenny bit
Similar: coin, piece
Canada, US, historical 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. A quarter is two bits.
Similar: coin, piece
Canada, US, obsolete A coin of a value similar but not equal to this, in particular the 'short bit', i.e. the ten-cent piece or dime. 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”.
Similar: coin, piece
historical A unit of currency and coin of the British West Indies worth six black dogs, originally equal to one-eighth of a Spanish dollar but later increasingly debased to one tenth, one eleventh, one twelfth, etc. 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.
Similar: coin, piece
historical A unit of currency of the Dutch West Indies in the early 20th century, worth one fifth of a cent.
Similar: coin, piece
Synonym of microbitcoin.
Similar: coin, piece, microbitcoin
informal Specifically, a small amount of time. I'll be there in a bit; I need to take care of something first.
Similar: instant, jiffy, tick, bat of an eye, bit, blink of an eye, crack, eyeblink, flash, glimpse, half a mo, jiff · Opposite: age, while, aeon, ages, blue moon, coon's age, crow's age, dog's age, donkey's years, eld, eon, eternity
informal A small fraction above a whole number. The movie lasted for two and a bit hours.
in plural, informal Fractions of a second. The 400 metres race was won in 47 seconds and bits.
Similar: split-second
A portion of something. I'd like a big bit of cake, please.
Similar: portion, share, segment, bit, chip, chunk, tranche, clip, crumb, crumbling, cutting, flake
Somewhat; something, but not very great; also used like jot and whit to express the smallest degree. See also a bit. Am I bored? Not a bit of it!
A replaceable tip for a hand tool or power tool, comprising the portion that drives a fastener. Near-synonym: driver
Similar: driver
slang A prison sentence, especially a short one. Had it not been for the influence of Mrs. Booth and Hope Hall I should still be grafting or doing a bit in some stir
Similar: bid
An excerpt of material making up part of a show, comedy routine, etc. His bit about video games was not nearly as entertaining as the other segments of his show.
slang A gag or put-on; a humorous conceit, especially when insistently presented as true. Are you serious, or is this a bit?
Similar: shaggy dog story, wind up, joke
abbreviation, ellipsis Ellipsis of bit part She acted her bit in the opening scene.
The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers.
The cutting iron of a plane.
The bevelled front edge of an axehead along which the cutting edge runs.
A gag of a style similar to a bridle.
Multicultural London English A gun. Jimmy: I need to get my hands on some bits. If you’re still in the business. Ronnie (played by Nick Nevern): Oi! Trojan (played by Jean-Paul Van Cauwelaert): Ronnie. […] Trojan: Now that is a SIG Sauer P226.
Similar: skeng, toy, wap, firearm, gat, gun, iron, piece

verb bits · bitting · bitted

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

bit^²

/ˈbɪt/
/ˈbɪ̝t/ Australia
/ˈbət/ New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɪt

Where it comes from

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.

verb

past simple past of bite Your dog bit me!
archaic, informal, participle, past, in UK, in US past participle of bite, bitten I've been bit by your dog!

adjective

in compounds, not comparable Having been bitten. Even though he's bit, of course the zombies would still chase him.

bit^³

/ˈbɪt/
/ˈbɪ̝t/ Australia
/ˈbət/ New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɪt

Where it comes from

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.

noun bits

A binary digit, generally represented as a 1 or 0.
The smallest unit of storage in a digital computer, consisting of a binary digit.
Similar: b
Any datum that may take on one of exactly two values. status bits on IRC
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 d
A microbitcoin, or a millionth of a bitcoin (0.000001 BTC).

Bit^⁴

proper noun

An Austroasiatic language spoken in China and Laos.

BIT^⁵

proper noun

UK, abbreviation, acronym Acronym of Behavioural Insights Team

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: flake, chip, morsel, fleck, spot, scrap, turn, piece, moment, minute, number, second, routine, act, injured, stung

Translations

Every language

noun metal in horse's mouth

Español	bocado
한국어	재갈 jaegal
日本語	馬銜, 轡 kutsuwa
中文	馬銜 /马衔 mǎxián
Kiswahili	charaza, lijamu
Português	bocado, bocal, morso, freio
Français	mors
Deutsch	Gebiss, Mundstück
Italiano	morso, freno
Ελληνικά	στομίδα stomída
Română	frâu, zăbală
Русский	удила́ udilá

noun rotary cutting tool

Español	broca
한국어	비트 biteu
Kiswahili	charaza
Português	broca, pua, verruma
Français	foret
Deutsch	Bohrer
Italiano	punta, punta di trapano
Română	burghiu
Русский	сверло́ sverló
עברית	מַקְדֵּחַ maqdéaẖ

noun eighth of a dollar

Español	octavo de dólar
한국어	12센트 반
Kiswahili	charaza
Deutsch	Bit
Italiano	ottavo di dollaro

noun small amount of time

Français	instant, minute, seconde
Deutsch	Moment

noun portion

Español	porción
한국어	조금 jogeum, 약간 yakgan
हिन्दी	टुकड़ा ṭukṛā
Kiswahili	charaza
Português	bocado, pedaço, porção
Français	part
Italiano	parte, porzione
Русский	кусо́к kusók
Tiếng Việt	phần

noun small amount of something — see also a little, dash, pinch

Español	grisma, colmo, pedacito, trocito, pedacico, trocico
한국어	작은 조각 jageun jogak, 도막 domak
日本語	ちょっと chotto, 少々 shōshō, 少し sukoshi
Kiswahili	charaza
Português	bocado, pedaço, porção, pitada
Français	petit morceau, peu
Deutsch	Bisschen, Wenig, Stück, Stückchen, Happen
Italiano	poco, poca, pezzetto, pezzettino
Română	bucată
Русский	кусо́к kusók
Tiếng Việt	tí

noun part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers

Español	paletón
Deutsch	Bart

noun math: binary digit

Español	binio
日本語	ビット bitto
हिन्दी	द्वयंक dvayaṅk
Kiswahili	charaza
Português	bit
Français	bit
Deutsch	Bit
Ελληνικά	δυφίο dyfío
Русский	бит bit
עברית	ביט

noun computing: smallest unit of storage

Español	binio
한국어	비트 biteu
日本語	ビット bitto
中文	位 wèi, 比特 bǐtè, 位元 wèiyuán, 二進制數字 /二进制数字 èrjìnzhì shùzì, 二進制位 /二进制位 èrjìnzhì wèi
Kiswahili	charaza
Português	bit
Deutsch	Bit
Ελληνικά	μπιτ bit, δυφίο dyfío, δυαδικό ψηφίο dyadikó psifío
Română	bit
Русский	бит bit
Tiếng Việt	bit
العربية	بِت bit
עברית	ביט bit

noun information theory: datum that may take on one of exactly two values

Español	binio
Kiswahili	charaza
Português	bit
Deutsch	Bit
Ελληνικά	δυφίο dyfío

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"bit." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bit. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

APA

bit. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bit

Chicago

"bit." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 5, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bit.

BibTeX

@misc{bit_2026,
  title = {bit},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bit},
  urldate = {2026-11-05}
}

bit

AI In plain words

bit¹

Where it comes from

noun bits

verb bits · bitting · bitted

bit²

Where it comes from

verb

adjective

bit³

Where it comes from

noun bits

Bit⁴

proper noun

BIT⁵

proper noun

Thesaurus

Translations

noun metal in horse's mouth

noun rotary cutting tool

noun eighth of a dollar

noun small amount of time

noun portion

noun small amount of something — see also a little, dash, pinch

noun part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers

noun math: binary digit

noun computing: smallest unit of storage

noun information theory: datum that may take on one of exactly two values

bit^¹

bit^²

bit^³

Bit^⁴

BIT^⁵