Meanings
plural mantissas · plural mantissae
- computingThe significand; that part of a floating-point number or number in scientific notation that contains its significant digits.
Synonyms: significand
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe significand; that part of a floating-point number or number in scientific notation that contains its significant digits.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe positive fractional part of the representation of a logarithm; in the expression ‘log 643 = 2.808’ the mantissa is .808
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinmantissa
- Englishmantissa
Borrowed from Latin mantissa, mantīsa, of unknown origin (said by Festus to be a loanword from Etruscan, but it may actually be from Celtic, possibly through Etruscan mediation). Coincidentally, proparoxytone Greek μάντισσα (mántissa) means "female foreteller", as in χαρτομάντισσα (chartomántissa, “cartomancer”) or χειρομάντισσα (cheiromántissa, “chiromancer”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan mantissa
- mantissapart of a logarithm after the decimal point
Chinese Mandarin 尾数
- 尾数 (wěishù)part of a logarithm after the decimal point
Czech mantisa
- mantisapart of a logarithm after the decimal point
Finnish mantissa
- mantissapart of a logarithm after the decimal point
French mantisse
- mantissepart of a logarithm after the decimal point
German Mantisse
- Mantissepart of a logarithm after the decimal point
Hindi अपूर्णांश
- अपूर्णांश (apūrṇāñś)part of a logarithm after the decimal point
Italian mantissa
- mantissapart of a logarithm after the decimal point
Japanese 仮数
- 仮数 (kasū)part of a logarithm after the decimal point
Polish mantysa
- mantysapart of a logarithm after the decimal point
Portuguese mantissa
- mantissapart of a logarithm after the decimal point
Russian манти́сса
- манти́сса (mantíssa)part of a logarithm after the decimal point
Spanish mantisa
- mantisapart of a logarithm after the decimal point
Tagalog sampuambahagi
- sampuambahagipart of a logarithm after the decimal point
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with mantissa
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
mantissa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mantissa
“mantissa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mantissa. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mantissa,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mantissa.
Source: mantissa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.