Digits

How to spell digits

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce digits

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does digits mean?

1. nounThe single numerals from 0 to 9 used to write numbers.
2. nounThe fingers or toes of a hand or foot.

Digits in a sentence

• The security code is made up of six digits.

• Frostbite can damage the digits if hands are left exposed.

• The last four digits of the card are printed on the receipt.

• The doctor examined the swollen digits on his left hand.

Where does digits come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin digitus, which literally meant 'finger' or 'toe'. Because people have long counted on their fingers, the Romans also used digitus for a single numeral, and that double life of the word survives perfectly in modern English: the digits on your hand and the digits in a phone number share exactly the same root. English borrowed the term in the late 1300s, originally in the literal anatomical sense, and the numeral meaning grew stronger as arithmetic and bookkeeping spread. The same Latin root sits behind 'digital', a word that once described counting on fingers and now describes everything stored as numbers. The spelling is reassuringly phonetic, though the soft 'g' before 'i' is what occasionally trips writers who expect a hard sound.

How the word is built

• digit (from Latin digitus: finger, toe)
• -s (plural)