binary

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a system of two stars that revolve around each other under their mutual gravitation
noun a pre-compiled, pre-linked program that is ready to run under a given operating system; a binary for one operating system will not run on a different operating system
adjective of or pertaining to a number system have 2 as its base

From Late Latin bīnārius (“consisting of two”), from Latin bīnī (“two-by-two, pair”). By surface analysis, bin- + -ary.

It is only within the last century, Pundit tells me, that the binary relation existing between these two orbs began even to be suspected. — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition: Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes, Edgar Allan Poe
Yea, that you shall not only be affianced, betrothed, wedded, and married, but that you shall furthermore cohabit and live jollily and merrily with your wife; for Pythagoras called five the nuptial number, which, together with marriage, signifieth the consummation of matrimony, because it is composed of a ternary, the first of the odd, and binary, the first of the even numbers, as of a male and female knit and united together. — Gargantua and Pantagruel, François Rabelais

binary star, double star

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