Y /T-T-Y/, /tit'ee/ N. The Latter Pronunciation Was Primarily ITS, But Some Unix People Say It This Way As Well

HomeFortune CookiesJargon File

tty /T-T-Y/, /tit'ee/ n.

The latter pronunciation was
primarily ITS, but some Unix people say it this way as well; this
pronunciation is not considered to have sexual
undertones. 1. A terminal of the teletype variety, characterized by
a noisy mechanical printer, a very limited character set, and poor
print quality. Usage: antiquated (like the TTYs themselves). See
also bit-paired keyboard. 2. [especially Unix] Any terminal
at all; sometimes used to refer to the particular terminal
controlling a given job. 3. [Unix] Any serial port, whether or not
the device connected to it is a terminal; so called because under
Unix such devices have names of the form tty*. Ambiguity between
senses 2 and 3 is common but seldom bothersome.

Related: