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word

A larger group of bytes that an instruction set treats as a unit; its size depends on who is talking.

The name "word" is an ISA-specific unit: 16 bits in x86 terminology (with dword 32, qword 64), 32 bits in ARM64 and RISC-V terminology (with doubleword 64).

Examples

  • Intel's manuals call 16 bits a word and 32 bits a doubleword; ARM's manuals call 32 bits a word.

See also

data model
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