byte

From S23Wiki

A byte is a set of bits that represent a single character in the computer's memory. Do not confuse this with "bite", which means something totally different. There are 8 bits in a byte. Bytes are typically used to measure hard disk storage and computer memory (megabytes, gigabytes, etc.) Abbreviation: "B".

	This is the JargonFile (V4.00) entry for byte - Next: bytesexual, Prev: by hand
:byte:: /bi:t/ /n./ [techspeak] A unit of memory or data equal to the amount used to represent one character; on modern architectures this is usually 8 bits, but may be 9 on 36-bit machines. Some older architectures used byte for quantities of 6 or 7 bits, and the PDP-10 supported bytes that were actually bitfields of 1 to 36 bits! These usages are now obsolete, and even 9-bit bytes have become rare in the general trend toward power-of-2 word sizes. Historical note: The term was coined by Werner Buchholz in 1956 during the early design phase for the IBM Stretch computer; originally it was described as 1 to 6 bits (typical I/O equipment of the period used 6-bit chunks of information). The move to an 8-bit byte happened in late 1956, and this size was later adopted and promulgated as a standard by the System/360. The word was coined by mutating the word bite so it would not be accidentally misspelled as bit. See also nybble.
* (text is auto-included via JargonExtension by mutante using jargon with VERSION 4.0.0, 24 JUL 1996 - JargonFile by Eric S. Raymond is in the public domain)