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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>nybble</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../N.html" title="N"/><link rel="previous" href="NUXI-problem.html" title="NUXI problem"/><link rel="next" href="nyetwork.html" title="nyetwork"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">nybble</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="NUXI-problem.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">N</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="nyetwork.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="nybble"/><dt xmlns="" id="nybble"><b>nybble</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/nib<69>l/</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="firstterm">nibble</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [from <span class="grammar">v.</span> <span class="firstterm">nibble</span> by analogy with ‘bite’
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→ ‘byte’] Four bits; one <a href="../H/hex.html"><i class="glossterm">hex</i></a> digit;
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a half-byte. Though ‘byte’ is now techspeak, this useful
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relative is still jargon. Compare <a href="../B/byte.html"><i class="glossterm">byte</i></a>; see also
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<a href="../B/bit.html"><i class="glossterm">bit</i></a>. The more mundane spelling “<span class="quote">nibble</span>”
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is also commonly used. Apparently the ‘nybble’ spelling is
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uncommon in Commonwealth Hackish, as British orthography would suggest the
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pronunciation <span class="pronunciation">/ni:<3A>bl/</span>.</p><p>Following ‘bit’, ‘byte’ and
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‘nybble’ there have been quite a few analogical attempts to
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construct unambiguous terms for bit blocks of other sizes. All of these
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are strictly jargon, not techspeak, and not very common jargon at that
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(most hackers would recognize them in context but not use them
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spontaneously). We collect them here for reference together with the
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ambiguous techspeak terms ‘word’, ‘half-word’,
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‘double word’, and ‘quad’ or <span class="firstterm">quad word</span>; some (indicated) have substantial
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information separate entries.</p><div class="informaltable"><table border="1"><colgroup><col/><col/></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>2 bits:</td><td><a href="../C/crumb.html"><i class="glossterm">crumb</i></a>, <a href="../Q/quad.html"><i class="glossterm">quad</i></a>, <a href="../Q/quarter.html"><i class="glossterm">quarter</i></a>, tayste, tydbit, morsel</td></tr><tr><td>4 bits:</td><td>nybble</td></tr><tr><td>5 bits:</td><td><a href="nickle.html"><i class="glossterm">nickle</i></a></td></tr><tr><td>10 bits:</td><td><a href="../D/deckle.html"><i class="glossterm">deckle</i></a></td></tr><tr><td>16 bits:</td><td>playte, <a href="../C/chawmp.html"><i class="glossterm">chawmp</i></a> (on a 32-bit machine), word (on a 16-bit machine),
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half-word (on a 32-bit machine).</td></tr><tr><td>18 bits:</td><td><a href="../C/chawmp.html"><i class="glossterm">chawmp</i></a> (on a 36-bit machine), half-word (on a 36-bit machine)</td></tr><tr><td>32 bits:</td><td>dynner, <a href="../G/gawble.html"><i class="glossterm">gawble</i></a> (on a 32-bit machine), word (on a 32-bit machine),
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longword (on a 16-bit machine).</td></tr><tr><td>36 bits:</td><td>word (on a 36-bit machine)</td></tr><tr><td>48 bits:</td><td><a href="../G/gawble.html"><i class="glossterm">gawble</i></a> (under circumstances that remain obscure)</td></tr><tr><td>64 bits:</td><td>double word (on a 32-bit machine)
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quad (on a 16-bit machine)</td></tr><tr><td>128 bits:</td><td>quad (on a 32-bit machine)</td></tr></tbody></table></div><p>The fundamental motivation for most of these jargon terms (aside from
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the normal hackerly enjoyment of punning wordplay) is the extreme ambiguity
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of the term <span class="firstterm">word</span> and its
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derivatives.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="NUXI-problem.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../N.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="nyetwork.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">NUXI problem<65></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>nyetwork</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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