qubit
/ˈkjubɪt/noun
qubit is a noun meaning “A quantum bit; the basic unit of quantum information described by a superposition of two states; a quantum bit in a quantum computer capable of being…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled Q-U-B-I-T, and it appears about once in every 7 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of qubit is qubits.
What does qubit mean?
noun
- 1
A quantum bit; the basic unit of quantum information described by a superposition of two states; a quantum bit in a quantum computer capable of being in a state of superposition; A binary qudit.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce qubit?
- UK /ˈkjuːbɪt/
- US /ˈkjubɪt/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cubit.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of qubit
- qubits plural
- qbit
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is qubit?
Qubit appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 77,666th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Words people confuse with qubit
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: cubit (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Qubit in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense quantum bit:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does qubit come from?
Blend of quantum + bit, a play on cubit (“historical unit of length”). Coined by American physicist Benjamin Schumacher in 1995.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).