hexadecimal

hex·a·dec·i·mal

H h

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [hek-suh-des-uh-muh l]
- /ˌhɛk səˈdɛs ə məl/
- /ˈheksədəsɪməl/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [hek-suh-des-uh-muh l]
- /ˌhɛk səˈdɛs ə məl/

Definitions of hexadecimal word

adjective hexadecimal Also, hex. of or relating to a numbering system that uses 16 as the radix, employing the numerals 0 through 9 and representing digits greater than 9 with the letters A through F. 1
adjective hexadecimal relating to or encoded in a hexadecimal system, especially for use by a digital computer. 1
noun hexadecimal Relating to or using a system of numerical notation that has 16 rather than 10 as its base. 1
adjective hexadecimal relating to a number system based on 16 1
noun hexadecimal sixteenth 1
noun Definition of hexadecimal in Technology (mathematics) (Or "hex") Base 16. A number representation using the digits 0-9, with their usual meaning, plus the letters A-F (or a-f) to represent hexadecimal digits with values of (decimal) 10 to 15. The right-most digit counts ones, the next counts multiples of 16, then 16^2 = 256, etc. For example, hexadecimal BEAD is decimal 48813: Hexadecimal is more succinct than binary for representing bit-masks, machines addresses, and other low-level constants but it is still reasonably easy to split a hex number into different bit positions, e.g. the top 16 bits of a 32-bit word are the first four hex digits. The term was coined in the early 1960s to replace earlier "sexadecimal", which was too racy and amusing for stuffy IBM, and later adopted by the rest of the industry. Actually, neither term is etymologically pure. If we take "binary" to be paradigmatic, the most etymologically correct term for base ten, for example, is "denary", which comes from "deni" (ten at a time, ten each), a Latin "distributive" number; the corresponding term for base sixteen would be something like "sendenary". "Decimal" is from an ordinal number; the corresponding prefix for six would imply something like "sextidecimal". The "sexa-" prefix is Latin but incorrect in this context, and "hexa-" is Greek. The word octal is similarly incorrect; a correct form would be "octaval" (to go with decimal), or "octonary" (to go with binary). If anyone ever implements a base three computer, computer scientists will be faced with the unprecedented dilemma of a choice between two *correct* forms; both "ternary" and "trinary" have a claim to this throne. 1

See all 12 definitions of hexadecimal

Information block about the term

Origin of hexadecimal

First appearance:

before 1955

One of the 4% newest English words

First recorded in 1955-60; hexa- + decimal

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Hexadecimal

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Hexadecimal

hexadecimal popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 61% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

hexadecimal usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer