Etymologically
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digital

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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
  • 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