Plural of bandwidth; the range of frequencies or amount of data that can be transmitted through a communication channel at once.
From band (range of frequencies) + width, coined in telecommunications in the early 20th century. Originally described the width of a band of radio frequencies, later extended to data transmission capacity.
Bandwidth became a metaphor in everyday speech—when someone says 'I don't have the bandwidth for that,' they're comparing their mental capacity to how much data a cable can handle, showing how tech language reshapes how we think about time and attention.
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