A unit of computer memory equal to half of a word, typically 16 bits in modern systems.
Compound of 'half' and 'word' in the computing sense (a fixed-size unit of data). Originated in the 1950s with the development of digital computers and memory architecture.
Computer scientists needed to talk about data chunks smaller than a standard 'word,' so they literally halved the terminology! It's a great example of how technical jargon evolves practically rather than poetically.
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