Boolean

See also: boolean

English

Alternative forms

• boolean
• Boolian (dated)

Etymology

From Boole +‎ -ean, named after English mathematician, philosopher and logician George Boole (1815–1864).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbuːl.i.ən/, /buːˈli.ən/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: bo͞oʹliən, bo͞oliʹən, IPA^(key): /ˈbuli.ən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːliən

Adjective

Boolean (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to the work of George Boole.
2. (logic, computing) Pertaining to data items that can have “true” and “false” (or, equivalently, 1 and 0 respectively) as their only possible values and to operations on such values.
   • 2005 May 9, Michael Chapman; Matthew Chapman, “Bug In Mouth Disease”, in Homestar Runner‎^[1], spoken by Strong Sad (Matthew Chapman):

     Oh, Boolean operators! "Blue and ones"! Good idea!

   • 2022 August 4, William Bahn, “Boolean Algebra Laws—Delving Into Boolean Identities”, in All About Circuits‎^[2]:

     The associativity of OR and AND is not at all obvious. It is tempting to assume that because OR and AND are commutative that they must be associative also. This is not the case, however, and some commutative Boolean operators are not associative. Examples include NAND and NOR.

Derived terms

• Boolean algebra
• Boolean circuit
• Boolean function
• Boolean logic
• Boolean ring
• Boolean variable

Translations

logic: pertaining to data items that have values “true” and “false”

• Catalan: booleà (ca)
• Czech: booleovský
• Dutch: booleaans (nl)
• Esperanto: bulea
• Finnish: totuusarvoinen
• French: booléen (fr), boolien (fr)
• German: boolesch
• Italian: booleano (it)
• Japanese: ブール代数の (Būru-daisū no)
• Korean: 불 대수의 (bul daesu-ui), 부울 대수의 (buul daesu-ui)
• Macedonian: булов m (bulov)
• Polish: boolowski
• Portuguese: booleano (pt)
• Romanian: boolean
• Russian: бу́лев (ru) (búlev)
• Spanish: booleano
• Swedish: boolesk
• Turkish: Boole'ca, Boole'sal
• Vietnamese: luận lý (vi), luận lí, (thuộc) Boole, Boolean

Noun

Boolean (plural Booleans)

1. (logic, computing) A variable that can hold a single true/false (1/0) value.

Synonyms

• (Boolean variable): flag, bool

Translations

type of variable

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 布爾值 / 布尔值 (Bù'ěr zhí)

• Dutch: booleaanse waarde f
• Finnish: totuusarvomuuttuja
• French: variable booléenne f
• German: Boolean (de) m, boolsche Variable f
• Japanese: ブーリアン (Būrian), ブール値 (Būru-chi)
• Korean: 불리언 (bullieon), 부울 값 (buul gap)
• Polish: zmienna logiczna f
• Portuguese: booleano (pt) m
• Russian: бу́лева переме́нная f (búleva pereménnaja)
• Spanish: booleano m
• Swedish: boolesk variabel c
• Turkish: Boole değişkeni
• Welsh: Boole m