octet

octet

An eight-bit storage unit. In the international community, octet is often used instead of byte.

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octet

1. any group of eight, esp eight singers or musicians

2. a piece of music composed for such a group

3. Prosody another word for octave (sense 2)

4. Chem a group of eight electrons forming a stable shell in an atom

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octet [äk′tet]

(atomic physics)

A collection of eight valence electrons in an atom or ion, which form the most stable configuration of the outermost, or valence, electron shell.

(particle physics)

A multiplet of eight elementary particles, corresponding to a representation of the approximate unitary symmetry (SU₃) of the strong interactions.

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(jargon, networking)

octet - Eight bits. This term is used in networking, in preference to byte, because some systems use the term "byte" for things that are not 8 bits long.