Data are pieces of information that represent the qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data (plural of "datum") are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which information and knowledge are derived.

The word data (pronounced /ˈdeɪtə/, /ˈdætə/, or /ˈdɑːtə/) is the Latin plural of datum, neuter past participle of dare, "to give", hence "something given". The past participle of "to give" has been used for millennia, in the sense of a statement accepted at fn, Data). In discussions of problems in geometry, mathematics, engineering, and so on, the terms givens and data are used interchangeably.

Such usage is the origin of data as a concept in computer science: data are numbers, words, images, etc., accepted as they stand. In English, the word datum is still used in the general sense of "something given". In cartography, geography, NMR and technical drawing it is often used to refer to a single specific reference datum from which distances to all other data are measured.

Any measurement or result is a datum, but data point is more common, albeit tautological. Both datums (see usage in datum article) and the originally Latin plural data are used as the plural of datum in English, but data is more commonly treated as a mass noun and used in the singular, especially in day-to-day usage. For example, "This is all the data from the experiment".

This usage is inconsistent with the rules of Latin grammar and traditional English,[citation needed] which would instead suggest "These are all the data from the experiment".

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