Word.ws English Dictionary

erlang

/ˈɜːrlæŋ/

erlang noun: a dimensionless statistical measure of the volume of telecommunications traffic relative to the capacity of a single channel.

Noun

erlang (plural erlangs)

  1. A dimensionless statistical measure of the volume of telecommunications traffic relative to the capacity of a single channel.
    • One erlang (1 Erl) is defined as the amount of traffic generated by the user when he or she uses one traffic channel for one hour (this one hour is usually the busy hour of the network).2004, Ajay R. Mishra, Fundamentals of Cellular Network Planning and Optimisation, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 42
    Synonyms:
    E, Erl

Proper noun capitalized: Erlang

Erlang

  1. A functional programming language designed for highly concurrent and fault-tolerant applications.
    • If you need to wring out every drop of performance on a complex task, or want to avoid rewriting a library written in a language other than Erlang, you'll want to explore Erlang's tools for connecting with other programming languages.2017, Simon St. Laurent, Introducing Erlang: Getting Started in Functional Programming, O'Reilly, →ISBN, page 172

Synonyms of erlang

  • E
  • Erl

Forms of erlang

pluralerlangs

Origin of erlang

Named after Danish mathematician and engineer Agner Krarup Erlang (1878–1929).

Named after Danish mathematician and engineer Agner Krarup Erlang (1878–1929) and a clipping of Ericsson language, the company where it originated.

Questions about erlang

What does erlang mean?
Erlang means a dimensionless statistical measure of the volume of telecommunications traffic relative to the capacity of a single channel.
What part of speech is erlang?
Erlang can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce erlang?
Erlang is pronounced /ˈɜːrlæŋ/.
What is the plural of erlang?
The plural of erlang is erlangs.

Words near erlang in the dictionary

  1. erky
  2. erl-king
  3. erl-kings
  4. Erlandson
  5. Erlandsons
  6. erlang
  7. Erlanger
  8. Erlanger's gazelle
  9. Erlanger's gazelles
  10. erlangs
  11. Erlanson

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: erlang (page history and authors); Erlang (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “erlang.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/erlang. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.