---
title: "A half byte is known as?"  
description: "A half byte is known as?"  
author: "UTKARSHA SINGHROUL"  
published: 2019-03-15  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/51862/a-half-byte-is-known-as  
category: "computers and laptops"  
tags: ["computers"]  
reading_time: 2 minutes  

---

#  A half byte is known as?

A half byte is [known as](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/86608/why-c-language-is-known-as-the-mother-of-all-programming-languages-in-modern-world)

## Answers

### Answer by Harshal Vispute

**A nibble is a four-bit aggregation**, or **half an octet**, in computing. It's sometimes referred to as a **half-byte** or a **tetrade**. The **nibble is also known as a semi-octet, quadbit, or quartet in networking and telecommunications**. A nibble can have up to **twenty-four (24)** different values. **A hex digit is a single hexadecimal digit (0–F)** that can be used to represent a nibble.

When chatting to a programmer at **Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in 1958**, **David B. Benson, a professor emeritus at Washington State University**, remembers using the phrase nibble as **'half a byte'** and the amount of storage necessary to keep a binary-coded decimal digit. As observed in early **1980s** editorials of **Kilobaud and Byte**, the alternate spelling nybble mirrors the spelling of byte. The term **nybble was first used in 1977 by Citibank's** **consumer-banking technology group**. It developed **a pre-ISO 8583 transactional communication standard** using the **NABBLE basic informational unit** between cash machines and Citibank's data centers.

The nibble is a term used to indicate the amount of memory utilized by an **IBM mainframe** to retain a digit of a number written in packed **decimal format (BCD)**. This method is used to speed up computations and make debugging easier. A single **8-bit byte** is divided in half, with each nibble storing one decimal digit. The variable's last (rightmost) nibble is set aside for the sign. As a result, a variable that can store up to nine numbers is **'packed'** into **five bytes.**


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