xor meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

xor

nounalso spelled XOR

/ɛksˈo(ɹ)/ · /ˈzo(ɹ)/

The logic function exclusive OR (as opposed to inclusive OR), whose output is true only when exactly one of its inputs is true.

xor

conj

Rare Or (but not both).

The argument leads to the conclusion that an omnipotent being could rationally be able to do one xor the other and still be omnipotent.2002, Rob Janssen, “The rock argument”, in alt.atheism (Usenet):

Synonyms: either ... or, eor
Related terms: and, or, nand, nor, not, XNOR

XOR

verb

/ˈɛks ˈɔɹ/ · /ˈzɔɹ/

Etymology Short for exclusive or.

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To perform the XOR function upon.

The XORed sequence has the same period as the sequence that is not XORed.1989, IEEE Communications Society, Conference Record:
XORing different constants into the four s-boxes in such a cipher has exactly the same effect as XORing a single constant into each round function output.1998, Stafford Tavares, Henk Meijer, Selected Areas in Cryptography:

1 more example

There are weak keys in the sense that their use by foisting chosen plaintexts can be proved, which could be interesting for chip cards with a ‘burnt-in key’. First of all, however, these keys can be easily avoided—one only needs to XOR all subkeys with the hexadecimal number 0x0dae—and second, the probability that such a key can be caught is 2⁻⁹⁶; that is about one out of 10²⁹ randomly selected keys (this number even has a name: 100 quadrilliards).2007, Reinhard Wobst, “Life After DES: New Methods, New Attacks”, in Angelika Shafir, transl., Cryptology Unlocked, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, →ISBN, section 3 (IDEA: A Special-Class Algoritmh), subsection 5 (Cryptanalyzing IDEA), page 239:

Synonyms: ⊻
Related terms: AND, OR, NAND, NOR, NOT, XNOR

XOR

noun

Etymology Short for exclusive or.

Human sciences, Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy, Sciences The connective "exclusive or". One way to state its meaning in plain English is "if either A or B, but not if both."

The XOR of (0,0) is 0; (0,1) is 1; (1,0) is 1; and (1,1) is 0.
The XOR gate can take only two inputs at a time and give an output. The output of the XOR gate is high (1) only when its two inputs are dissimilar i.e., if one of them is low (0) then other one will be high (1).2025 August 30, “Logic Gates - Definition, Types, Uses”, in GeeksforGeeks, archived from the original on 11 Sep 2025:

Business, Electrical, Electrical engineering, Electricity, Electromagnetism, Energy, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics A logic gate that implements "exclusive or".

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences The symbolic representation that implements "exclusive or".

XOR can be used to add bits without carrying.

Synonyms: exclusive OR, XOR gate, ex-or, NOT equivalence
Antonyms: XNOR

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for xor and XOR.