Octetts

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group or set of eight items, especially in music or computing contexts, that collectively function as a single unit or entity
2. A musical composition for eight voices or instruments
3. A byte sequence consisting of eight bits, commonly used in data representation and transmission

Etymology: Eight-person groups took their name from a rhythm of musical Italian: "ottetto," built on "otto," meaning "eight." The Italian "-etto" ending marks a small group, the same pattern behind "duetto" for two and "quartetto" for four. The Italian word goes back to Latin "octo," which is also the source of "octave" and "October," once the eighth month of the Roman calendar. In English, "octet" came to mean eight voices or instruments performing together, and the term later spread beyond music to any set of eight. In computing, the same idea of a fixed group of eight applies to eight bits, a unit that networking standards often call an octet to avoid confusion with "byte," whose size has varied across systems. "Octetts" with a double t is a variant spelling of the standard "octets" and is the plural of that variant.

Synonyms: octets, groups of eight, eights