---
title: "Token"
type: "glossary-term"
category: "AI & LLMs"
canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/glossary/ai-and-llms/token"
updated: "2026-07-09"
---

# Token

**A token is the small chunk of text (roughly a word-piece) that language models read and generate; usage and limits are counted in tokens, not characters.**

A **token** is the unit a language model actually processes. Text is split into tokens - often sub-word pieces - before the model sees it. As a rough rule of thumb, one token is about four characters of English, or three-quarters of a word.

Tokens matter for two practical reasons: models have a maximum number they can handle at once (the context window), and most API pricing is per token.

## Related terms

- [Context window](/glossary/ai-and-llms/context-window.md)
- [Large language model (LLM)](/glossary/ai-and-llms/large-language-model.md)

[AI & LLMs](/glossary/ai-and-llms.md) · [All glossary terms](/glossary.md)

---

**Machine-readable endpoints**

- JSON: [`/api/graphcanon`](/api/graphcanon)
- LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt)
- Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt)

_GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_