Meanings
nounstar height (plural star heights)
plural star heights
- computingA measure of the structural complexity of a regular expression, equal to the maximum nesting depth of stars in the expression.
Origin
From the Kleene star and the idea of nested levels having a "height"; coined in 1963 by Lawrence C Eggan.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
star height. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/star%20height
MLA
“star height.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/star%20height. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “star height,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/star%20height.
Source: star height on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.