From Latin 'fōrmātum' (something formed) — originally a printing term for book dimensions, expanded in the computing era.
The way in which something is arranged or set out; the shape, size, and presentation of a book, document, or piece of data; (verb) to arrange or put into a particular format.
From French 'format' (the shape and size of a book), borrowed from German 'Format,' from Latin 'fōrmātum' (something formed, shaped), neuter past participle of 'fōrmāre' (to form, to shape, to fashion), from 'fōrma' (form, shape, mold, pattern). The ultimate PIE connection is uncertain — possibly *morbʰ- via Greek 'morphē' by metathesis, or possibly pre-Italic/Etruscan. The word originally referred specifically to the physical dimensions of a printed book, determined by how many times the printer's sheet was folded: folio (once), quarto (twice), octavo (three times). Each fold halved the page
The word 'format' originally described how a printer folded a large sheet of paper to make book pages. Fold it once: folio (2 leaves, 4 pages). Fold it twice: quarto (4 leaves, 8 pages). Fold it three times: octavo (8 leaves, 16 pages). The 'format' was literally the physical form of the book. When computing adopted the word in the 1950s — 'file format,' 'disk format,' 'to format a drive' — it preserved the core