Other forms: latencies
Latency is the delay between an action and the system's response. Low latency, network latency, latency of about forty milliseconds.
It is not the same as bandwidth: bandwidth is how much data can flow and latency is how long the first bit takes to arrive, which is why a fast connection can still feel slow. It matters most in gaming, video calls and trading. Lag is the everyday word. In medicine and biology, latency is a dormant period — the latency of a virus between infection and symptoms.
1nounlatencyThe delay between an action and the system's response.
“Online gamers hate high latency, because every move arrives a moment too late.”
latency is a delay.
Also accepted in games: lag
Latin latens means lying hidden, from latere, to lie concealed — the same root as latent. Latency is time hidden inside a process, which describes both the network delay and the dormant virus.
Proto-Indo-European
*leh₂-
Latin
latēns
Old French
latent
Middle English
latent
English
latent
English, today
latency
Built from
From latent + ency. latent comes from Middle English latent, latente, from Old French latent, from Latin latēns, present participle of lateō (“lie hidden”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA