Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “bitwise” come from?

Bitwise comes from English bit, itself from Old English bita, from Proto-Germanic bitiz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰeyd- meaning to split or divide.

bitwise (English): Being an operation that treats a value as a...

Definitions

  1. Being an operation that treats a value as a...

Ancestry of “bitwise”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishbitA piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and...
2Middle Englishbitte—
3Old Englishbyt—
4Proto-Germanic*buttjā—
5Latinbuttia—
6Ancient Greekβούττιον—
7Ancient Greek-ῐονdiminutive suffix; "suffix forming...
8Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →