Literally, information. Data can consist of facts, statistics, specifications, measurements, numeric values, quantities, and a variety of other types of information. Originally, “data” was the plural of the Latin word datum, which referred to a single piece of information. “Data” is now accepted as both the singular and plural form of the word. (English major tip: “datas” and “datae” are not acceptable plurals of “data.” If you use them, you’ll look, shall we say, less than literate.)

