digit

/ˈdɪdʒɪt/

/ˈdɪdʒɪt/

Other forms: digits

If you want to sound smart, you can refer to your finger, thumb, or toe as a digit. Each of the numbers from 0 to 9 is another kind of digit.

Although your pinkie toe may seem to be completely unrelated to the number three, each is a kind of digit. In fact, the practice of calling numbers digits comes from the digits on your hands — specifically, the habit of counting to ten on your fingers. The Latin root word digitus means "finger or toe," and English borrowed from this to mean "number."

Definitions of digit

1. noun

   a finger or toe in human beings or corresponding body part in other vertebrates
   synonyms: dactyl

   types:

   minimus

   the fifth digit; the little finger or little toe

   finger

   any of the terminal members of the hand (sometimes excepting the thumb)

   toe

   one of the digits of the foot

   pollex, thumb

   the thick short innermost digit of the forelimb

   forefinger, index, index finger

   the finger next to the thumb

   annualry, ring finger

   the third finger (especially of the left hand)

   middle finger

   the second finger; between the index finger and the ring finger

   little finger, pinkie, pinky

   the finger farthest from the thumb

   big toe, great toe, hallux

   the first largest innermost toe

   hammertoe

   a deformed toe which is bent in a clawlike arch

   little toe

   the fifth smallest outermost toe

   type of:

   appendage, extremity, member

   an external body part that projects from the body
2. noun

   one of the elements that collectively form a system of numeration
   “0 and 1 are digits”

   synonyms: figure

   types:

   binary digit

   either 0 or 1 in binary notation

   octal digit

   a digit from 0 to 7 in octal notation

   decimal digit

   a digit from 0 to 9 in decimal notation

   duodecimal digit

   a digit from 0 to 11 in duodecimal notation

   hexadecimal digit

   a digit from 0 to 15 in hexadecimal notation

   significant digit, significant figure

   any digit of a number that is known with certainty; any digit of a number beginning with the leftmost non-zero digit and ending with the rightmost non-zero digit (or a zero considered to be the exact value)

   0, cipher, cypher, nought, zero

   a mathematical element that when added to another number yields the same number

   1, I, ace, one, single, unity

   the smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number

   2, II, deuce, two

   the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number

   3, III, deuce-ace, leash, tercet, ternary, ternion, terzetto, three, threesome, tierce, trey, triad, trine, trinity, trio, triplet, troika

   the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one

   4, IV, Little Joe, four, foursome, quadruplet, quartet, quatern, quaternary, quaternion, quaternity, tetrad

   the cardinal number that is the sum of three and one

   5, Little Phoebe, Phoebe, V, cinque, fin, five, fivesome, pentad, quint, quintet, quintuplet

   the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one

   6, Captain Hicks, VI, half a dozen, hexad, sestet, sextet, sextuplet, sise, six, sixer

   the cardinal number that is the sum of five and one

   7, VII, heptad, septenary, septet, seven, sevener

   the cardinal number that is the sum of six and one

   8, VIII, eight, eighter, eighter from Decatur, octad, octet, octonary, ogdoad

   the cardinal number that is the sum of seven and one

   9, IX, Nina from Carolina, ennead, nine, niner

   the cardinal number that is the sum of eight and one

   monad, monas

   a singular metaphysical entity from which material properties are said to derive

   singleton

   a single object (as distinguished from a pair)

   craps, snake eyes

   expressions used when when two dice are thrown and both come up showing one spot

   brace, couple, couplet, distich, duad, duet, duo, dyad, pair, span, twain, twosome, yoke

   two items of the same kind

   type of:

   integer, whole number

   any of the natural numbers or their negatives or zero
3. noun

   the length of breadth of a finger used as a linear measure
   synonyms: finger, finger's breadth, fingerbreadth

   type of:

   linear measure, linear unit

   a unit of measurement of length