Bit and byteWord for the Wise December 22, 2006 Broadcast Topic: Bit and byte A recent program on two bits left a listener hungry for a little more information.
To be more precise, he observed that in his computer world, two bits does add up to something: a bit of a byte!
Coincidence, he asked, or otherwise?
(来源：2HZZ常识网 http://www.
2hzz.
com)Otherwise…well, sort of.
The computer bit refers to a unit of computer information equivalent to the result of a choice between two alternatives (such as yes or no; on or off) .
This bit (admittedly a tiny piece of information) comes not from the bit that means a small piece or quantity of some material thing, but from the first, second, and last letters of the phrase binary digit.
And while it might be more fitting to have a two-letter word represent binary digit, it certainly is easier for English speakers to include a vowel in there.
By the way, bit has another computer sense too: it also refers to the physical representation of a bit by an electrical pulse, magnetized spot, or a hole whose presence or absence indicates data.
As for the story of byte—that is, the byte naming a unit of computer information or data-storage capacity consisting of a group of eight bits and used especially to represent an alphanumeric character—for that, we turn to speculation.
Lexicographers believe (but are not certain) it developed as an alteration of bite.