Meaning & use
ZB
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Meaning
abbreviationcountabletechnicalcomputing
A unit of digital information equal to one sextillion bytes, used for extremely large data amounts.
Grammar: Countable: use it with numbers or 'a', e.g. '500 ZB'; the plural is also ZB.
Patterns
- a ZB of data
- X ZB
- ZB of storage
Global internet traffic is expected to reach hundreds of ZB by the end of the decade.
This data center alone stores over 3 ZB of information.
Common combinations
- ZB of data
- The company processes several ZB of data every year.
- ZB of storage
- A single ZB of storage would require millions of hard drives.
- measured in ZB
- Global data volume is often measured in ZB.
Synonyms and how they differ
- zettabyte
- The full form; ZB is the abbreviation, so use zettabyte in formal writing if you want to be clear.
Word family
- zettabyte noun
- The full word for the unit that ZB stands for.
Commonly confused: ZB or ZB?
ZB vs ZB
ZB is sometimes confused with Zb, which stands for zettabit, a different unit of digital information.
Practice
The new storage system can hold up to 10 ___ of data.
Choose one answer.
The abbreviation ZB does not change in the plural, so '10 ZB' is correct. 'ZBs' is wrong because units of measurement usually stay the same; 'ZB's' is possessive, not plural; and 'ZB of' would need a noun after it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ZB”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.