octet

English

Alternative forms

• octett, octette (rare)

Etymology

From Latin octo (“eight”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɒkˈtɛt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt

English numbers ^(edit)

←  7	8	9  →
Cardinal: eight     Ordinal: eighth     Latinate ordinal: octonary     Adverbial: eight times     Multiplier: eightfold     Latinate multiplier: octuple     Distributive: octuply     Germanic collective: eightsome     Collective of n parts: octuplet     Greek or Latinate collective: octad     Greek collective prefix: octo-, octa-     Latinate collective prefix: octo-     Fractional: eighth     Elemental: octuplet     Greek prefix: ogdo-     Number of musicians: octet     Number of years: octennium

Noun

octet (plural octets)

1. A group or set of eight of something.

   Synonyms: octad, octonary, (chiefly Greek and Egyptian contexts) ogdoad, (particularly babies) octuplet, (8-day week) nundine

2. (music) A group of eight musicians performing together.

   An octet of waiters sang her "Happy Birthday".

3. (music) A composition for such a group of musicians.
4. (computing) A byte of eight bits. Abbreviation: o

   Synonym: byte

5. (computing, rare) A group of three bits, representing any of eight possible values.
   • 2003, Nitesh Dhanjani, Linux and UNIX security portable reference:

     This is done by breaking down each set of permissions (user, group, and other) to represent an octet.

Hyponyms

• octennium (years)

Derived terms

• octet rule
• color-octet

Related terms

• octa-
• octuple

Translations

group of eight

• Bulgarian: осмица f (osmica)
• Catalan: octet m
• German: Oktett (de) n
• Greek: οκτάδα (el) f (oktáda), οχτάδα (el) f (ochtáda)
• Hebrew: שמיניה (he) f
• Ido: okteto (io)
• Maori: tokowaru
• Portuguese: octeto (pt) m
• Russian: восьмёрка (ru) f (vosʹmjórka)
• Spanish: octeto (es) m

group of eight musicians performing together

• Afrikaans: oktet
• Bulgarian: октет m (oktet)
• Catalan: octet m
• Danish: oktet (da) c
• French: octuor (fr) m
• German: Oktett (de) n
• Hebrew: שמיניה (he)
• Italian: ottetto (it) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oktett m

• Pannonian Rusyn: октет m (oktet)
• Polish: oktet m
• Portuguese: octeto (pt) m
• Russian: окте́т (ru) m (oktét)
• Slovene: oktet m
• Spanish: octeto (es) m
• Swedish: oktett (sv) c

composition for such a group

• Catalan: octet m
• Danish: oktet (da) c
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oktett m

• Slovene: oktet m
• Swedish: oktett (sv) c

byte of eight bits — see byte

rare: byte of three bits

• Icelandic: áttund f, átta bita bæti n

See also

• duet
• nonet
• quartet
• quintet
• septet
• sextet
• solo
• trio

Further reading

• octet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “octet”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• tecto-

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔk.tɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

octet m (plural octets)

1. (computing) byte (of eight bits), octet

   Synonym: (abbreviation) o

Derived terms

• exbioctet
• exaoctet
• gibioctet
• gigaoctet
• pébioctet
• pétaoctet
• kibioctet
• kilooctet
• mébioctet
• mégaoctet
• tébioctet
• téraoctet
• yobioctet
• yoctaoctet
• zébioctet
• zétaoctet

Further reading

• “octet”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /okˈtet/

Noun

octet m (plural octeți)

1. (computing) byte (of eight bits)

   Synonym: byte

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	octet	octetul		octeți	octeții
genitive-dative	octet	octetului		octeți	octeților
vocative	octetule			octeților

Further reading

• octet in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)