unit

See also: unît

English

WOTD – 5 November 2013

Etymology

Formerly unite, a later form of unity; see unity.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjuː.nɪt/, /ˈ(j)ɪu̯.nɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːnɪt

Noun

unit (plural units)

1. (mathematics) Oneness, singularity, seen as a component of a whole number; a magnitude of one. [from 16th c.]
   • 1570, John Dee, in H. Billingsley (trans.) Euclid, Elements of Geometry, Preface:

     Number, we define, to be, a certayne Mathematicall Sũme, of Vnits. [Note the worde, Vnit, to expresse the Greke Monas, & not Vnitie: as we haue all, commonly, till now, vsed.]

2. (sciences) A standard measure of a quantity.

   The centimetre is a unit of length.

   The pound sterling is a unit of currency.

3. The number one.
4. Ellipsis of international unit.

   This pill provides 500 units of Vitamin E.

5. An organized group comprising people and/or equipment.

   He was a member of a special police unit.

6. (military, informal) A member of a military organization.

   The fifth tank brigade moved in with 20 units. (i.e., 20 tanks)

7. (commerce) An item which may be sold singly.

   We shipped nearly twice as many units this month as last month.

8. (US, UK, Australia, New Zealand) Any piece of equipment, such as an appliance, power tool, stereo system, computer, tractor, or machinery.

   This air-conditioner is the most efficient unit we sell.

9. (retail) A structure used to display goods for sale (usually containing shelves, pegs or hooks)

   Coordinate terms: bay, display, FSDU, gondola, stand

10. (US, Australia, New Zealand) a measure of housing equivalent to the living quarters of one household; an apartment where a group of apartments is contained in one or more multi-storied buildings or a group of dwellings is in one or more single storey buildings, usually arranged around a driveway.

    The new apartment complex will have 50 units.

11. (medicine) A quantity of approximately 517 milliliters (1.1 U.S. pints) of blood.
12. (US, military) Any military element whose structure is prescribed by competent authority, such as a table of organization and equipment; specifically, part of an organization.
13. (US, military) An organization title of a subdivision of a group in a task force.
14. (US, military) A standard or basic quantity into which an item of supply is divided, issued, or detailed. In this meaning, also called unit of issue.
15. (US, military) With regard to Reserve Components of the Armed Forces, denotes a Selected Reserve unit organized, equipped, and trained for mobilization to serve on active duty as a unit or to augment or be augmented by another unit. Headquarters and support functions without wartime missions are not considered units.
16. (algebra) The identity element, neutral element.
    • 2005, Serge Lang, Algebra, 3rd edition, Springer, →ISBN, page 3:

      An element 𝑒 of 𝑆 such that 𝑒𝑥 = 𝑥 = 𝑥𝑒 for all 𝑥 ∈ 𝑆 is called a unit element. (When the law of composition is written additively, the unit element is denoted by 0, and is called a zero element.)

17. (algebra) An element having an inverse, an invertible element; an associate of the unity.

    Hypernym: regular element

    • 1990, A. I. Kostrikin, I. R. Shafarevich, editors, Algebra I, Springer, →ISBN, page 22:

      Let 𝐴 be an arbitrary integral domain. We say that an element 𝑎 ∈ 𝐴 is invertible or is a unit of 𝐴 if it has an inverse in 𝐴; in ℤ the units are ±1, […]

18. (category theory) In an adjunction, a natural transformation from the identity functor of the domain of the left adjoint functor to the composition of the right adjoint functor with the left adjoint functor.
19. (geology) A volume of rock or ice of identifiable origin and age range that is defined by the distinctive and dominant, easily mapped and recognizable petrographic, lithologic or paleontologic features (facies) that characterize it.
    • 2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition:

      For example, the Moenkopi Formation was named for the small settlement of Moenkopi, Arizona where the formation was first defined as being a separate unit from the rocks above and beneath it.

20. (UK) A unit of alcohol.
21. (UK, electricity) One kilowatt-hour (as recorded on an electricity meter).
22. (historical) A gold coin of the reign of James I, worth twenty shillings.
23. A work unit.
24. (UK, Australia, slang) A physically large person.
    • 2018 December 11, “Aylesbury goalkeeper, 14, dies after match injury”, in BBC News:

      Luca's father, Americo Campanaro, said: "I feel like my heart has been ripped out."
      Mr Campanaro added: "He was a big lad, a big unit, that's why he was a goalkeeper, with a big heart to match. A gentle giant."

25. (US, slang, vulgar) A penis, especially a large one.

Synonyms

• (identity element): identity element, unity, unit element

Hyponyms

• (chip): arithmetic logic unit
• (sciences): SI unit

Derived terms

• absolute unit
• accumulated thermal unit
• allocation unit
• Amagat unit
• angstrom unit
• API unit
• application protocol data unit
• arbitrary unit
• arithmetic logic unit, ALU
• astronaut maneuvering unit
• astronaut propulsion unit
• astronomical unit
• atomic mass unit
• auxiliary power unit
• bargaining unit
• base unit
• battery electric multiple unit
• biounit
• blocking unit
• Bodansky unit
• bread unit
• British thermal unit
• Bubnoff unit
• B-unit
• B unit
• burn unit
• business unit
• cab unit
• Carnegie unit
• cat unit
• central processing unit, CPU
• colony-forming unit
• concrete masonry unit
• construction unit
• consumer unit
• control unit
• counit
• cowl unit
• customary unit
• cyberunit
• Debye unit
• derived unit
• detoxification unit
• diesel multiple unit
• DI unit
• Dobson unit
• effects unit
• electric multiple unit
• electromagnetic unit
• excavation unit
• exclusion unit
• family unit
• federative unit
• field unit
• first unit
• floating-point unit, FPU
• flux unit
• formula unit
• Friedman unit
• fundamental unit
• garbage disposal unit
• graphics processing unit, GPU
• Haugh unit
• head unit
• Heaviside unit function
• high dependency unit
• hood unit
• hypothetical taxonomic unit
• imaginary unit
• immunounit
• inclusion unit
• in-law unit
• intensive care unit
• intensive-care unit
• interunit
• intonation unit
• IRE unit
• K-9 unit
• kilounit
• King-Armstrong unit
• lexical unit
• linguistic unit
• livestock unit
• local administrative unit
• logit
• macrounit
• manned maneuvering unit
• map unit
• megaunit
• memory unit
• message unit
• microunit
• milliunit
• monetary unit
• moon unit
• morphic unit
• mother and baby unit
• motor unit
• mountain unit
• multiple unit
• multiunit
• natural unit
• neural processing unit
• nonunit
• non-unit
• operational taxonomic unit
• parental unit
• pecuniary unit
• penalty unit
• pilosebaceous unit
• Planck unit
• plea integrity unit
• political unit
• power unit
• probit
• propwash deflection unit
• prosodic unit
• quantum processing unit
• quantum unit of spin
• rankit
• rectified linear unit
• repeating unit
• repeat unit
• repunit
• restricted stock unit
• rhythmic unit
• Scoville heat unit
• Scoville unit
• second unit
• security housing unit
• shower unit
• Siegbahn unit
• social unit
• special handling unit
• stock-keeping unit
• subunit
• superunit
• Svedberg unit
• system unit
• time unit
• tone-bearing unit
• tractor unit
• T-unit
• turn construction unit
• unified atomic mass unit
• unitage
• unit aircraft
• unital
• unitality
• unitary
• unit cell
• unit circle
• unit combat readiness
• unit commitment status
• unit cost
• unit designation list
• unit disk
• unit fine
• unit fraction
• unit function
• unit gyrovector
• unitholder
• unitholding
• unit hyperbola
• unit interval
• unitise, unitize
• unitism
• unitization
• unit jar
• unitless
• unitlike
• unit load
• unit matrix
• unit of account
• unit of language
• unit of measure
• unit of measurement
• unit of time
• unit operation
• unit price
• unit pricing
• unit sphere
• unit test
• unit testing
• unit trust
• unit vector
• urotoxic unit
• USP unit
• visual display unit
• wall unit
• waste disposal unit
• x unit

 

Translations

standard measure of a quantity

• Albanian: njësi (sq) f
• Arabic: وَحْدَة f (waḥda)
• Armenian: միավոր (hy) (miavor)
• Asturian: unidá (ast) f
• Bashkir: берәмек (berəmek)
• Belarusian: адзі́нка (be) f (adzínka)
• Bulgarian: едини́ца (bg) f (ediníca)
• Catalan: unitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 單位 / 单位 (zh) (dānwèi)

• Czech: jednotka (cs) f
• Danish: enhed (da) c
• Dutch: eenheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: unito, unuo
• Estonian: ühik
• Faroese: eind
• Finnish: yksikkö (fi)
• French: unité (fr) f
• Galician: unidade (gl) f
• Georgian: ერთეული (erteuli)
• German: Einheit (de) f
• Greek: μονάδα (el) f (monáda)
• Hebrew: יְחִידָה (he) f
• Hungarian: egység (hu)
• Icelandic: eining f
• Indonesian: satuan (id)
• Irish: aonad (ga) m
• Italian: unità (it) f
• Japanese: 単位 (ja) (たんい, tan'i)
• Javanese: iji (jv)
• Korean: 단위(單位) (ko) (danwi)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: یەکە (yeke)

  Northern Kurdish: yeke (ku) f, yekîne (ku) f

• Lao: ໜ່ວຍ (nuāi)
• Latvian: vienība (lv) f
• Macedonian: единица f (edinica)
• Malay: unit, satuan (ms)
• Maori: waeine
• Marathi: एकक n (ekak)
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: enhet (no) m

  Norwegian Nynorsk: eining (nn) m

• Polish: jednostka (pl) f
• Portuguese: unidade (pt) f
• Romanian: unitate (ro) f
• Russian: едини́ца (ru) f (jediníca)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јединица f

  Roman: jedinica (sh) f

• Slovak: jednotka f
• Slovene: enota (sl) f
• Spanish: unidad (es) f
• Swahili: uniti
• Swedish: enhet (sv) c
• Tagalog: isahin
• Turkish: birim (tr)
• Ukrainian: одини́ця (uk) f (odynýcja)
• Urdu: اِکائِی f (ikāī)
• Vietnamese: đơn vị (vi)

number one

• Bulgarian: единица (bg) f (edinica)
• Catalan: unitat (ca) f
• Finnish: ykkönen (fi)
• French: unité (fr) f
• Galician: unidade (gl) f
• Hebrew: אֳָחָד (he) m, אַחַת (he) f
• Maori: kotahi
• Polish: jedność (pl) f, jedynka (pl) f
• Portuguese: unidade (pt) f

international unit — see international unit

organized group comprising people and/or equipment

• Bashkir: берәмек (berəmek)
• Bulgarian: едини́ца (bg) f (ediníca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 部件 (zh) (bùjiàn)

• Czech: jednotka (cs) f
• Danish: enhed (da) c
• Dutch: eenheid (nl) f
• Finnish: yksikkö (fi), osasto (fi)
• French: unité (fr) f
• German: Einheit (de) f
• Greek: μονάδα (el) f (monáda), συγκρότημα (el) n (sygkrótima)
• Hebrew: יְחִידָה (he) f
• Hungarian: egység (hu)
• Indonesian: satuan (id)
• Irish: aonad (ga) m
• Italian: unità (it)
• Japanese: 一式 (ja) (いっしき, isshiki)
• Macedonian: единица f (edinica)
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: enhet (no) m

  Norwegian Nynorsk: eining (nn) m

• Polish: jednostka (pl) f
• Portuguese: unidade (pt) f
• Romanian: unitate (ro) f
• Russian: едини́ца (ru) f (jediníca), подразделе́ние (ru) n (podrazdelénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јединица f

  Roman: jedinica (sh) f

• Slovene: enota (sl) f
• Spanish: unidad (es) f
• Swedish: enhet (sv) c
• Turkish: birim (tr)
• Ukrainian: одини́ця (uk) f (odynýcja)

member of a military organization

• Bulgarian: едини́ца (bg) f (ediníca)
• Czech: jednotka (cs) f
• Danish: enhed (da) c
• Dutch: eenheid (nl) f
• Estonian: üksus
• Finnish: yksikkö (fi)
• Greek: μονάδα (el) f (monáda)
• Hebrew: יחידה (he) f (yekhidá)
• Japanese: 部隊 (ja) (ぶたい, butai), 部門 (ja) (ぶもん, bumon)
• Polish: jednostka (pl) f
• Portuguese: unidade (pt) f
• Romanian: unitate (ro) f
• Russian: едини́ца (ru) f (jediníca)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јединица f

  Roman: jedinica (sh) f

• Swedish: enhet (sv) c

military: military element with prescribed structure

• Bulgarian: поделение (bg) n (podelenie)
• Finnish: yksikkö (fi), osasto (fi)
• Indonesian: satuan (id)

military: subdivision in a task force

• Bulgarian: подразделение (bg) n (podrazdelenie)
• Finnish: yksikkö (fi), osasto (fi)
• Indonesian: satuan (id)
• Swedish: enhet (sv) c

military: standard or basic quantity

• Finnish: yksikkö (fi)
• Swedish: enhet (sv) c

military: selected reserve unit

• Finnish: yksikkö (fi)
• Swedish: enhet (sv) c

algebra: element of a ring

• Bulgarian: едини́ца (bg) f (ediníca)
• Danish: enhed (da) c
• Finnish: yksikkö (fi)
• Greek: μονάδα (el) f (monáda)
• Hungarian: egység (hu)
• Icelandic: eind (is) f
• Irish: aonad (ga) m
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: enhet (no) m

  Norwegian Nynorsk: eining (nn) m

• Polish: jedynka (pl) f
• Portuguese: unidade (pt) f
• Romanian: unitate (ro) f
• Russian: едини́ца (ru) f (jediníca)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јединица f

  Roman: jedinica (sh) f

geology: volume of rock or ice of identifiable origin

item which may be sold singly

• Danish: enhed (da) c
• Finnish: yksikkö (fi)
• Greek: κομμάτι (el) n (kommáti), τεμάχιο (el) n (temáchio)
• Hebrew: יְחִידָה (he) f
• Maori: waetahi
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: enhet (no) m

  Norwegian Nynorsk: eining (nn) m

• Polish: sztuka (pl) f
• Portuguese: unidade (pt) f
• Russian: едини́ца (ru) f (jediníca), шту́ка (ru) f (štúka)
• Swedish: enhet (sv) c

kilowatt-hour as recorded on an electricity meter — see kilowatt-hour

measure of housing equivalent to the living quarters of one household

• Finnish: asunto (fi)
• Hebrew: דִּירָה (he) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} satuan (id)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} jednotka f

Adjective

unit (not comparable)

1. For each unit.

   We have to keep our unit costs down if we want to make a profit.

2. (mathematics) Having a size or magnitude of one.
   • 1990, William W. S. Wei, Time Series Analysis, →ISBN, page 9:

     Consider the following time sequence

     $Z_{t}=A\sin(\omega t+\theta )$,

     where $A$ is a random variable with a zero mean and a unit variance and $\theta$ is a random variable with a uniform distribution on the interval $[-\pi ,\pi ]$ independent of $A$.

Translations

for each unit

• Bulgarian: единичен (bg) (ediničen)
• Finnish: (in compounds) yksikkö- (fi)
• Indonesian: satuan (id)
• Portuguese: unitário (pt)
• Swedish: enhets-

mathematical

• Finnish: (in compounds) yksikkö- (fi)
• Polish: jednostkowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: unitário (pt)

Further reading

• “unit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “unit”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “unit”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• uint

Bikol Central

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʔunit/ [ˈʔu.n̪it]
• Hyphenation: u‧nit

Noun

únit (Basahan spelling ᜂᜈᜒᜆ᜔)

1. (Tabaco–Legazpi–Sorsogon, anatomy) skin; scalp

   Synonyms: kublit, balat

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [uˈnit]
• Rhymes: -it

Adjective

unit (feminine unida, masculine plural units, feminine plural unides)

1. united

Derived terms

• Emirats Àrabs Units
• Estats Units
• Estats Units d'Amèrica
• Regne Unit

Participle

unit (feminine unida, masculine plural units, feminine plural unides)

1. past participle of unir

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /y.ni/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

unit

1. inflection of unir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. third-person singular past historic

Anagrams

• nuit

Indonesian

Etymology

From English unit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈʊnɪt̚]
• Hyphenation: unit

Noun

unit (uncountable)

1. unit:
   1. (mathematics) oneness, singularity, seen as a component of a whole number; a magnitude of one.

      Synonym: satuan

   2. (sciences) a standard measure of a quantity.

Classifier

unit

1. Classifier for singularity.

Derived terms

• unit contoh
• unit desa
• unit gawat darurat
• unit gerak
• unit Haugh
• unit internasional
• unit kerja
• unit translasi

 

Further reading

• “unit” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Latin

Verb

ūnit

1. third-person singular present active indicative of ūniō

Occitan

Pronunciation

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Verb

unit

1. past participle of unir

Romanian

Etymology

Past participle of uni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [uˈnit]

Adjective

unit m or n (feminine singular unită, masculine plural uniți, feminine and neuter plural unite)

1. united

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	unit		unită		uniți	unite
	definite	unitul		unita		uniții	unitele
genitive- dative	indefinite	unit		unite		uniți	unite
	definite	unitului		unitei		uniților	unitelor

Verb

unit (past participle of uni)

1. past participle of uni

Welsh

Alternative forms

• unet (colloquial)
• unset (colloquial)

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈɨ̞nɪt/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈiːnɪt/, /ˈɪnɪt/

Verb

unit

1. (literary) second-person singular imperfect/conditional of uno

Mutation

Mutated forms of unit

radical	soft	nasal	h-prothesis
unit	unchanged	unchanged	hunit

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.