token

Meanings

Noun

• Something serving as an expression of something else.
• A keepsake.
• A piece of stamped metal or plastic, etc., used as a substitute for money; a voucher that can be exchanged for goods or services.
• A small physical object, often designed to give the appearance of a common thing, used to represent a person or character in a board game or other situation.
• A minor attempt for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.
• Evidence, proof; a confirming detail; physical trace, mark, footprint.
• Support for a belief; grounds for an opinion.
• An extraordinary event serving as evidence of supernatural power.
• An object or disclosure to attest or authenticate the bearer or an instruction.
• A seal guaranteeing the quality of an item.
• Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith.
• A tally.
• A particular thing to which a concept applies.
• An atomic piece of data, such as a word, for which a meaning may be inferred during parsing.
• A conceptual object that can be possessed by a computer, process, etc. in order to regulate a turn-taking system such as a token ring network.
• A meaningless placeholder used as a substitute for sensitive data.
• A lexeme; a basic, grammatically indivisible unit of a language such as a keyword, operator or identifier.
• A single example of a certain word in a text or corpus.
• A characteristic sign of a disease or of a bodily disorder, a symptom; a sign of a bodily condition, recovery, or health.
• A livid spot upon the body, indicating, or supposed to indicate, the approach of death.
• Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or half the number printed on both sides.
• A bit of leather having a peculiar mark designating a particular miner. Each hewer sends one of these with each corf or tub he has hewn.
• A thin bed of coal indicating the existence of a thicker seam at no great distance.
• A physical object used for exchange between drivers and signalmen on single track lines.
• In a loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use.
• A piece of metal given beforehand to each person in the congregation who is permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper.

Adjective

• Done as an indication or a pledge.
• Perfunctory or merely symbolic; done or existing for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.
• Included in minimal numbers in order to create an impression or illusion of diversity, especially ethnic or gender diversity.

Verb

• To betoken, indicate, portend, designate, denote
• To betroth
• To symbolize, instantiate

Origin

• From Middle English token, taken, from Old English tācn, from Proto-West Germanic *taikn, from Proto-Germanic *taikną, from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- with Germanic *k rather than *h by Kluge's law.
• The verb is from Middle English toknen, from Old English tācnian. Cognate with German Zeichen.