Coined in 1570 by John Dee from Latin 'unus' (one) to translate Greek 'monas' — a mathematical invention.
An individual thing or person regarded as single and complete, especially as part of a larger whole; a quantity chosen as a standard of measurement.
Coined in the 1570s by the English mathematician John Dee, who needed an English equivalent for the Greek 'monas' (unit, unity). Dee formed 'unit' from Latin 'ūnus' (one), on the model of 'digit' from 'digitus.' The word was a deliberate mathematical coinage — Dee literally invented it for his 1570 preface to Henry Billingsley's translation
The word 'unit' was invented by one man: John Dee, the Elizabethan mathematician and occultist who advised Queen Elizabeth I. In 1570, he needed an English word for the Greek mathematical term 'monas' (the basic indivisible quantity) and coined 'unit' from Latin 'ūnus' (one). Before Dee, the concept existed in English only through