A good answer might be:

MIPS Terminology for Larger Groupings of Bits

Often several bytes in a row (contiguous bytes) are used, so there is terminology for how many bytes are used. Each manufacturer has their own idea of what to call groupings larger than a byte. The following is valid only for discussing the VAX line of computers.

  • byte -------- eight bits.
  • word -------- four bytes, 32 bits.
  • double word ---- eight bytes, 64 bits.

A block of contiguous memory is referred to by the address of its first byte (ie. the byte with the lowest address.) Most MIPS instructions involve a fixed number of bytes (for example, )

QUESTION 13:

Let's say your applications needs to use 14 bits to represent some quantity. The standard groupings are 8-bit bytes, 16-bit words, and larger. What do you do for your 14 bit quantity?