Other forms: units
A unit is a single thing, or a fixed amount used in measuring. A unit of measurement, a housing unit, an army unit.
The measuring sense is the important one: a unit is an agreed quantity everybody counts in, and picking one is the first act of any measurement. A unit of alcohol is defined by law and differs between countries. A unit is also a military formation and a flat in a block. Note unity, from which the word comes.
1noununitA fixed amount used in measuring.
“The metre is the basic unit of length in the metric system.”
2nounsingleA single thing or group within a larger whole.
“The hospital has opened a new unit for children with heart problems.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
unit is a single quantity or thing.
Unit is a shortened form of unity, from Latin unus, one. Union, unique and unite come from the same one.
Formerly unite, a later form of unity; see unity.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA