megacharacter

M3E1G2A1C3H4A1R1A1C3T1E1R1

noun

One million characters of text.

Scrabble 23

Meanings

nounmegacharacter (plural megacharacters)

plural megacharacters

  1. rarecomputingOne million characters of text.

    There's raw speed and then there's raw speed. Do you want to display, say, a megacharacter/second?

    2005 June 8, Andrew Dalke, “Fast text display?”, in comp.lang.python (Usenet)
    2 more examples

    The eighth column presents the capacity of one entire storage unit, in megabytes (or megacharacters); sometimes the unit is the same as the module, as in the case of the IBM 2311 disk pack, and sometimes it is an aggregate of modules, as in the case of the IBM 2314, or the RCA mass storage.

    1969, David Lefkowitz, File Structures for Online Systems, New York, N.Y.; Washington, D.C., page 203

    400 megabytes, probably has 200 to 300 megacharacters. At .003 megacharacters per page ( 3000 characters per page) this is 66,000 to 100,000 pages to print out before the end of the year, or 133 to 200 reams of paper to print by the end of the year.

    1999 January 22, Material Fellow, “The Y2k Survival CD!”, in oc.forsale (Usenet)
  2. roleplaying gamesA character who has reached a high level and become extremely powerful.

    M&M, although my overall favorite RPG series, has a tendency to get absolutely ludicrous by the end (piloting megacharacters in an otherwise sword and sorcery game into spaceships and underground Lord Xeen factories).

    1998 April 20, George, “Fallout is not that good.”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (Usenet)
    2 more examples

    At the instigation of Edward and Loel Schoonover, I finally managed to produce another major T&T solitaire in 1982. It is called Agent Of Death, and it has a couple of important firsts in it. It is the first real adventure designed especially for megacharacters (if you're not a megacharacter for part 3 of the adventure, forget it!).

    1984 March/April, Ken St. Andre, “From Khazan to Melnibone... and Back Again”, in Different Worlds, number 33, page 26

    Happily joining, I soon found myself flying off and breaking all the level restrictions I had to to^([sic]) labor through for weeks, due to the strengths of a megacharacter who is leading this power leveling expedition.

    1999 February 5, Fandral, “Level 50 guy question...”, in alt.games.everquest (Usenet)

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*méǵh₂s
  2. Proto-Hellenic*mégas
  3. Ancient Greekμέγᾰς (mégăs)
  4. Englishmega-
  5. Ancient Greekχαράσσω (kharássō)
  6. Ancient Greekχαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr)
  7. Latincharactēr
  8. Old Frenchcaractere
  9. Middle Englishcaracter
  10. Englishcharacter
  11. Englishmegacharacter

From mega- + character.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

megacharacter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/megacharacter

MLA

“megacharacter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/megacharacter. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “megacharacter,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/megacharacter.

Source: megacharacter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.