Standard Lemma guide

megabyte

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈmɛɡəˌbaɪt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M EH1 G AH0 B AY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

One million (106, or 1,000,000) bytes or 1,000 kilobytes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: formal

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A mebibyte.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a unit of information equal to 1024 kibibytes or 2^20 (1,048,576) bytes

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: mebibyte, M, MB, MiB

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: computer memory unit

4

noun

Meaning 4

a unit of information equal to 1000 kilobytes or 10^6 (1,000,000) bytes

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: M, MB

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: computer memory unit

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *méǵh2s Proto-Hellenic *mégas Ancient Greek μέγᾰς (mégăs)der. English mega- Proto-Indo-European *bheyd- Proto-Indo-European *bhéydt Proto-Germanic *bītaną Proto-West Germanic *bītan Old English bītan Middle English biten English bite English byte English megabyte From mega- + byte.

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مِيغَابَايْت (miḡabayt) — about a million bytes
  • Bengali: মেগাবাইট (megabaiṭ) — about a million bytes
  • Chinese Mandarin: 兆字節 /兆字节 (zhàozìjié) — about a million bytes
  • Chinese Mandarin: MG — about a million bytes
  • Czech: megabyte — about a million bytes
  • Czech: megabajt — about a million bytes
  • Esperanto: megabitoko — about a million bytes
  • Esperanto: megabajto — about a million bytes
  • Finnish: megatavu — about a million bytes
  • French: mégaoctet — about a million bytes
  • French: mégabyte — about a million bytes
  • Georgian: მეგაბაიტი (megabaiṭi) — about a million bytes
  • German: Megabyte — about a million bytes
  • Greek: μεγκαμπάιτ (megkampáit) — about a million bytes
  • Greek: μεγαδυφιοσυλλαβή (megadyfiosyllaví) — about a million bytes
  • Hebrew: מגה־בית — about a million bytes
  • Hungarian: megabyte — about a million bytes
  • Icelandic: megabæti — about a million bytes
  • Japanese: メガバイト (megabaito) — about a million bytes
  • Korean: 메가바이트 (megabaiteu) — about a million bytes
  • Macedonian: мегабајт (megabajt) — about a million bytes
  • Navajo: tááłtsohʼííłké — about a million bytes
  • Polish: megabajt — about a million bytes
  • Portuguese: megabyte — about a million bytes
  • Romanian: megabyte — about a million bytes
  • Romanian: megaoctet — about a million bytes
  • Russian: мегаба́йт (megabájt) — about a million bytes
  • Serbo-Croatian: ме̏габајт — about a million bytes
  • Serbo-Croatian: mȅgabajt — about a million bytes
  • Spanish: megabyte — about a million bytes
  • Swahili: megabaiti — about a million bytes
  • Thai: เมกะไบต์ — about a million bytes
  • Tibetan: ཡིག་ཚིགས་ས་ཡ (yig tshigs sa ya) — about a million bytes
  • Turkish: megabayt — about a million bytes
  • Ukrainian: мегаба́йт (mehabájt) — about a million bytes
  • Uyghur: مېگابايت (mëgabayt) — about a million bytes
  • Yiddish: מעגאַבײַט (megabayt) — about a million bytes