Digit

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈdɪd͡ʒɪt/

Definitions

1. A numerical symbol from 0 to 9 used in counting or calculations ; a finger or toe on a human or animal used for grasping or balance
2. A single character representing a number in arithmetic and data ; one of the extremities on a hand or foot that aids movement and sensation
3. A basic number unit typically from zero through nine applied in math and coding ; any of the terminal appendages on limbs that help with touch and manipulation

Etymology: The English "digit" comes from Latin "digitus," which meant both "finger" and "toe." Its root is traced to a Proto-Indo-European form meaning "to point," so the word's oldest sense was the pointing part of the body. English took it into Middle English, where it kept that anatomical meaning for fingers and toes before the numerical sense developed. The number sense is the one most people now meet first. A finger was a natural counting tool, so the same word that named the fingers came to name the single symbols used to count with, the familiar 0 through 9. A digit is therefore a counted unit made from something you could literally hold up and count on. The word is a doublet of "dedo," the Spanish for finger, and of "digitus" itself, which means that Spanish and English descend from the same Latin source through separate routes.

Synonyms: number, figure