DadgogoAI Dictionary

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token

noun \ˈtō-kən\
TopicFundamentals Senses2
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Definition of token

  1. : the basic unit of text a language model reads and writes: a whole word, part of a word, a punctuation mark, or a space

    • The word 'unbelievable' might be split into three tokens.
    • As a rule of thumb, 1,000 tokens is about 750 English words.

  2. : the unit in which AI usage is measured and billed

    • The API charges per million tokens, with output tokens costing more than input tokens.

Two meanings, one word

In everyday English

A sign or symbol; a coin-like piece used instead of money.

In AI

The basic unit of text a language model reads and writes: a whole word, part of a word, a punctuation mark, or a space.

Test yourself

Which of these is the meaning of token?

Related terms

tokenizer the component that splits text into tokens before it goes into a model, and joins tokens back… context window the maximum amount of text, measured in tokens, that a model can consider at one time… API application programming interface: a defined way for one program to send requests to another… inference the act of running a trained model to produce an output, such as answering a prompt or… tokenmaxxing the practice of pushing employees to use as many AI tokens as possible, treating token…

Cite this entry

"Token." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/token/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

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