Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or based on the number 16.
  • adjective Of or relating to sixteenths.
  • noun A number system having 16 as its base.
  • noun A sixteenth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun arithmetic, computing A number system with base 16, using the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E and F, useful in computing as a hexadecimal digit can represent four bits, half a standard byte. Informal short form used in computing: hex
  • adjective Of a number, expressed in hexadecimal.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or pertaining to a number system having 16 as its base

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

hexadeca- +‎ decimal; see the Wikipedia article for more information.

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Examples

Comments

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  • When you count in hexadecimal, it goes like this: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F,10,11...

    Neat huh?

    Big deal with computer geeks.

    February 22, 2007

  • Gotta love alternative numeral systems. Binary is cool too. As a web designer, I use hex notation often to name colors, listed in RGB order (Red, Green, Blue). First two digits are red, second two are green, and third two are blue. Over 16 million possibilities -- every discernable color of the rainbow can be reached this way.

    #FF0000 is pure red.

    #00FF00 is pure green.

    #0000FF is pure blue.

    #FFFF00 is pure yellow.

    #FF00FF is pure purple.

    #00FFFF is pure teal.

    #000000 is solid black.

    #FFFFFF is solid white.

    It's really a nice system because if you need to fine-tune a particular color it's easy to say "it needs more blue" and just increment that value. No need for a traditional color picker interface.

    February 22, 2007

  • Also fun this way: the decimal number 912559 converted to hexadecimal format is "dECAF" and 64206 = FACE, 65261 = FEEd, 48879 = bEEF, 16435934 = FACAdE, 181202413 = ACCEdEd, 251636973 = EFFACEd, etc. Ah, numbers are such fun. Maybe someone should start a "numbrie" site!?

    February 22, 2007

  • AHA! So *that's* how I can change color values on Yahoo pages! ;-)

    First I learn the alternative definition for scumbag, then I learn about alternative numeral systems...such an enlightening day for me on Wordie!

    February 22, 2007

  • Coined in 1954 from mixed Greek and Latin elements. The pure Latin form would be 'sedecimal'.

    September 4, 2008

  • It is almost always referred to as hex by computer scientists.

    September 6, 2008