6 ms·The words are 36 bits. 3 12 bit characters (the analogue to a byte)by dungle6 9y agoThe words are 36 bits. 3 12 bit characters (the analogue to a byte)jonsen 9y agoWikipedia: "The size of the byte has historically been hardware dependent and no definitive standards existed that mandated the size – byte-sizes from 1[3] to 48 bits[4] are known to have been used in the past."andars 9y ago12 3 bit characters.