Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Hexadecimal
/ˌhɛksəˈdɛsɪməl/adjective
Using base sixteen, with the digits 0 to 9 and A to F.
The Greek roots
ἕξ
héx
six
Literally: “six plus tenth”
Follow a root:ἕξ10 words
The story of the word
A hybrid: ἕξ is Greek and decimal is Latin, from decem. The consistent form would be sexadecimal, and early computing did use it, but IBM is reported to have preferred hexadecimal on grounds of decorum while the System/360 documentation was being written in the early 1960s. Whatever the reason, the mongrel won, and every colour code on the web is written in it.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1950s
Same family
hexagonhexameterhexapodhexose
In a sentence
The error code came back in hexadecimal and meant nothing until he converted it.
White is FFFFFF in hexadecimal, which is three pairs at full strength.