kilobit

English

Etymology

c. 1960, from kilo- (“thousand”) +‎ bit.

Noun

kilobit (plural kilobits)

1. (computing) 1000 bits (binary digits)
   • 1960, Sproul Robert W, Frequency diversity communications system, US Patent US3214691 A:

     At a 100 kilobit per second information rate, both mark and space signals will generally be transmitted in any 0.0001 sec interval, and therefore this requirement is easily met with conventional resistors and capacitors.

2. (computing, rare) 1024 (2¹⁰) bits

Synonyms

• (abbreviation): kb (1000 or 1024 bits)
• (abbreviation): kib (1024 bits)
• (1024 bits): kibibit

Coordinate terms

• bit, megabit, gigabit, terabit, exabit, petabit

Related terms

• kilobyte

See also

• kbps