carryin

Carryin is a term used in several different domains, and its meaning depends on context. It is commonly written as carry-in or carryin, and in technical literature is often abbreviated Cin.

In North American social life, a carry-in meal, also called a bring-what-you-can or potluck dinner, is an event where attendees contribute dishes to be shared. Participants bring prepared foods rather than money, sometimes with sign-ups to balance dishes. Carry-in gatherings are typically informal social occasions organized by churches, clubs, schools, or neighborhoods and are valued for fostering communal eating and mutual support.

In digital electronics, carry-in (Cin) refers to the input carry bit supplied to a binary adder. It combines with the input bits A and B to produce a sum and a carry-out. Cin is essential for multi-bit addition across chained adders; in a ripple-carry adder the Cin of the least significant bit is often 0 when starting a fresh operation, but Cin may be set to 1 to incorporate a prior carry or to implement arithmetic with an initial carry. The term is also used in programming and circuit design to denote an accessible carry state.

Variations in spelling persist: carry-in, carryin, and Cin are all encountered, with the hyphenated form being common in prose and the all-lowercase form appearing in variable names or schematic labels. When referring to the social event, the hyphenated spelling is typical; when referring to the electrical concept, Cin is the conventional abbreviation.

See also: potluck, full adder, ripple-carry adder.