Datum
/ˈdeɪ.təm/noun
A single piece of information or a fixed reference point used in measurement or calculation.
Did you know?The word comes from the same Latin root as *date*, *data*, and *condom*’s ancestor *condere*? Wait—no: *datum* itself is the neuter past participle of *dare*, “to give,” which is why it entered English through scholarly Latin as a term for a given fact or quantity.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*deh₃-
“to give”
Latin
Latin
dare
“to give”
Latin
Latin
datum
“given; something given”
17th Century
English
datum
“a fact assumed or given in reasoning or calculation”
Modern English
English
datum
“a single item of data or information”