split keys

Noun

split key (plural split keys)

1. A key split at one end like a split pin, for the same purpose.
   • A split pin is also a split key, because both are used to lock or fasten pieces of machinery together.1869, Cameron Knight, The Mechanician and Constructor for Engineers
2. A key value used to identify where to split the children of a parent node in a B-tree or similar data structure.
   • As with B+-trees, records with keys greater than or equal to the split key go to a new current node, records with keys less than the split key remain in the original node.1990, Hector Garcia-Molina, H. V. Jagadish, Proceedings of the 1990 ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data., page 353
3. A cryptographic key that is divided into two or more values that individually cannot be used to deduce the entire key.
   • Moreover, even those systems (such as split key systems) that can decrease these risks, do so with a marked increase in cost.1997, Cryptography and Privacy Sourcebook, →ISBN, page 15