[TUHS] Does anybody know the etymology of the term "word" as in collection of bits?

[Larry McVoy]

On Thu, Sep 08, 2022 at 09:33:42PM -0400, Douglas McIlroy wrote:
> As to where the byte came from, it was christened for the IBM
> Stretch, aka 7020. The machine was bit-addressed and the width
> of a byte was variable. 

Huh, I did a lot of the Unix port to the ETA-10, that was the only
machine that I encountered that had bit pointers.  I never understood
why that was a thing, Doug, do you know the rationale for bit pointers?

The ETA-10 is not well known, I was part of the Lachman group:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA10

My first job after school, I got to watch Neil toggle in the bootstrap
stuff at the console.  He wasn't Seymour but he was very very good.
One of the more substantial people I've ever met, I would guess he
has passed but if he hasn't, he would like this group of people.

Whatever, Doug or anyone, why do bit pointers make sense?  Why?