Middle English bite, bit "bite of an animal, cutting edge, point, mouthpiece of a bridle," going back to Old English bite "bite of an animal, cut from a weapon," going back to Germanic *biti- (whence Old Saxon biti "bite, sting," Old High German biz [gebiz "mouthpiece of a bridle"], Old Norse bit), noun derivative from the base of *bītan- "to bite" — more at bite entry 1
Middle English bite, bit "mouthful of food, morsel," going back to Old English bita, bite, going back to Germanic *bitan- (whence Middle Dutch bete "morsel," Old High German bizzo, Old Norse biti), noun derivative from the base of *bītan- "to bite" — more at bite entry 1
Noun (3)
from binary digit
Note: The term bit was introduced into general circulation by Claude shannon in "A Mathematical Theory of Communication," Bell System Technical Journal, vol. 27, July, 1948, p. 380: "The choice of a logarithmic base corresponds to the choice of a unit for measuring information. If the base 2 is used the resulting units may be called binary digits, or more briefly bits, a word suggested by J.W. Tukey." The American mathematician John W. Tukey (1915-2000) had used the word in a Bell Labs memorandum, "Sequential Conversion of Continuous Data to Digital Data," dated January 9, 1947. Tukey employed bit as a counterpart in a binary system to digit in the decimal system. For details see "The Origin of Bit" in the "Anecdotes" section of Annals of the History of Computing, vol 6, no. 2 (April, 1984), pp. 152-55.
First Known Use
Noun (1)
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)