megabyte

/ˈmɛɡəˌbaɪt/

//ˈmɛɡəˌbaɪt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"megabyte" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“megabyte” is uncommon English (frequency #72,535 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,535
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - One million (10⁶, or 1,000,000) bytes or 1,000 kilobytes.

Corpus desk

Index EN-megabyte · megabyte · English

megabyte · rank #72,535 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,535
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH medevac

Nearest frequency peer: medevac (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “megabyte”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “megabyte” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for megabyte
PropertyValue
Headwordmegabyte
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmɛɡəˌbaɪt/
Letters8
Frequency rank#72,535
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “megabyte” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).megabytefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “medevac” (#72,534), “Melchior” (#72,536), “Medeiros” (#72,533). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “megabyte” is #72,535. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

megabyte is uncommon English at frequency #72,535 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmɛɡəˌbaɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for megabyte in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From mega- + byte. The correct English form is megabyte, spelled M-E-G-A-B-Y-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    One million (10⁶, or 1,000,000) bytes or 1,000 kilobytes.
  2. 2
    A mebibyte.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how megabyte appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The IBM 2301 Drum Storage (Figure 20) provides random access storage of approximately 4 million bytes at a data rate of 1.2 megabytes per second.
  2. This 70-megabyte [69,889,536 bytes] data module contains fixed heads in addition to the normal access heads.

Etymology

From mega- + byte.

Synonyms

MB㎆

This word in other languages

megabyte(Español)mégaoctet(Français)Megabyte(Deutsch)megabyte(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "megabyte"?
"megabyte" is spelled M-E-G-A-B-Y-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmɛɡəˌbaɪt/.
What does "megabyte" mean?
As a noun, "megabyte" means: One million (10⁶, or 1,000,000) bytes or 1,000 kilobytes.
How do you pronounce "megabyte"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "megabyte" is /ˈmɛɡəˌbaɪt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "megabyte"?
From mega- + byte. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "megabyte", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Melchior#72,536Medeiros#72,533McGuigan#72,532Mercosur#72,540

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list