Digital

How to spell digital

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce digital

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does digital mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to computer technology or to information stored and processed as discrete numerical data, as opposed to analogue.
2. adjectiveShowing information as numerals on a screen rather than by hands on a dial.

Digital in a sentence

• The company moved all of its paper records to a digital archive.

• The kitchen oven has a digital readout for the temperature.

• A digital camera stores each photograph as a file rather than on film.

• She prefers a digital watch because the time is easier to read at a glance.

Where does digital come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin digitus, which literally meant 'finger' and, by extension, a single numeral, since people first counted on their fingers. From this came the Latin adjective digitalis, 'relating to a finger or to counting'. English adopted 'digital' in the 1400s in its plain anatomical sense, describing things to do with the fingers or toes. The modern dominant meaning grew up in the twentieth century: because electronic systems represent information as discrete numbers (digits), engineers called such systems 'digital', in contrast to 'analogue'. It is worth remembering that the everyday word 'digit', whether you mean a finger or a number, is the same root, which is a useful anchor for the unstressed middle vowel that the spelling hides.

How the word is built

• digit- (from Latin digitus: finger, also a numeral counted on fingers)
• -al (adjective suffix)