Byteword

Byteword is a term that does not have a universally agreed meaning in computing. It is used informally as a coinage that blends the ideas of a byte and a word, and it may refer to different concepts depending on context.

In some discussions, byteword denotes a data unit whose size matches the architecture’s word size but is addressed at the byte level. In this sense, a byteword could be used in memory models and instruction sets that operate on bytes but are optimized for word-sized operations.

In software and data encoding, byteword can describe a representation where a word-sized value is serialized as a fixed number of bytes, with byteorder indicating the arrangement. In programming language design or type systems, byteword may be used as an alias or wrapper type for a unit that can hold a word or a byte, depending on configuration or platform. Some writings use the term to illustrate the distinction between byte-addressable units and word-size operands.

Because it is not standardized, the exact meaning of byteword should be inferred from the surrounding text. When encountered, check definitions for the intended unit size, the addressability model (byte-addressable vs word-addressable), and the endianness used for serialization.

See also: Byte, Word, Endianness, Data word, Memory addressing.