digit

Etymology

From Middle English digit, from Latin digitus (“a fingerbreadth; a number”). Doublet of digitus.

noun

1. (mathematics) The whole numbers from 0 to 9 and the Arabic numerals representing them, which are combined to represent base-ten numbers.
   The number 123.4 has four digits: the hundreds digit is 1, the tens digit is 2, the units digit is 3, and the tenths digit is 4.
2. (mathematics) A distinct symbol representing one of an arithmetic progression of numbers between 0 and the radix.
   Hexadecimal numeration (Base sixteen) includes the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 but also A (10 decimal), B, C, D, E, and F. Sixteen itself is written as the two-digit number 10.
3. (units of measure, astronomy) ¹⁄₁₂ the apparent diameter of the sun or moon, (chiefly) as a measure of the totality of an eclipse.
   A six-digit eclipse covers half the lunar surface.
4. (historical units of measure) A unit of length notionally based upon the width of an adult human finger, standardized differently in various places and times, (especially) the English digit of ¹⁄₁₆ foot, now equivalent to about 1.9 cm.
5. (units of measure, obsolete) Synonym of inch.
6. (anatomy) A narrow extremity of the human hand or foot: a finger, thumb, or toe.
   Jai grabbed Andrew’s shoulders with the same three digits he had used to grab the ancient doubter’s skull and spun him around. 2018, Shiv Kotecha, The Switch, United States: Wonder, page 144
7. (zoology) Similar or similar-looking structures in other animals.
   The ruminants have the cloven foot, i.e. two hoofed digits on each foot. 1866, Richard Owen, Anatomy of Vertebrates
8. (geometry, rare, obsolete) Synonym of degree: ¹⁄₃₆₀ of a circle.

verb

1. (transitive) To point at or point out with the finger.