digital

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈdɪdʒ.ɪ.tᵊl/, US /ˈdɪdʒ.ɪ.t̬ᵊl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin digitālis (“of a finger”),^[2][3][4] from digitus (“finger, toe”),^[2][4] the source of digit.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of numbers below ten: the mid-15th century,^[2] and about 1430 in the OED as a noun, a digit.^[5] The numerical sense came from counting numbers under ten on the fingers.^[2]

Semantic evolution

“Of the fingers” is from 1656,^[5] the 1650s in Etymonline,^[2] and in anatomy, of marks resembling a fingerprint, from 1831.^[5] Humorously, digitals were fingers from 1840.^[5] The modern sense, “using numerical digits”, is from 1938, especially of computers that work with data in digits rather than analogue quantities, after about 1945.^[2][5] Digital recording and broadcasting are from 1960,^[2][5] and the digital audio tape from 1981.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1430 – a digit, a number under ten.^[5]
• 1656 – of the fingers.^[5]
• 1840 – noun, a finger (humorous).^[5]
• 1938 – using numerical digits.^[2][5]
• c. 1945 – of computers.^[2]
• 1960 – digital recording.^[2][5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Representing data as numbers, especially as a series of binary digits, for use by a computer.
2. Using or showing a reading in numerical digits: a digital clock.
3. Of or done with the fingers.
4. Relating to computer technology and the internet: the digital economy.

Noun

1. A key played with the finger, as on a piano.

Word family

• digitally

Related words

• digitalis
• digitate
• digitigrade
• digit
• digitize
• prestidigitation

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press