bps
Abbreviation with 3 meanings
| Stands for | Bits per second |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 3 |
| Categories | Units & Measurements, Business & Finance, Medical |
| Also written | BPS |
bps has three meanings. The most common are Bits per second (data unit) and Basis points (stock market & investing); it can also stand for Behavioral Pain Scale.
Meanings of bps at a glance
| # | bps stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bits per second | Units & Measurements › Data Unit |
| 2 | Basis points | Business & Finance › Stock Market & Investing |
| 3 | Behavioral Pain Scale | Medical › Patient Assessment |
1. Bits per second
Units & Measurements · Data Unit Abbreviations
The basic unit of data transfer rate, counting how many binary digits pass through a connection each second. Its multiples kbps, Mbps and Gbps describe everything from modems to fiber links.
Example: Early acoustic-coupler modems ran at just 300 bps.
IEC and IEEE standards prefer the form bit/s. Bits per second differ from baud, which counts signal changes per second; a modem can carry several bits per symbol, so its bps exceeds its baud rate. In finance, bps means basis points, hundredths of a percent.
2. Basis points
Business & Finance · Stock Market & Investing Abbreviations
Unit equal to one hundredth of a percentage point (0.01 percent), used to describe interest rates, bond yields, spreads, fees and small percentage changes precisely. A rise from 4.00 percent to 4.25 percent is a 25 bps increase.
Example: The central bank raised its policy rate by 50 bps, more than economists had expected.
Pronounced "bips." The singular is bp or bip, and 100 bps equal 1 percentage point. Basis points avoid confusion between absolute and relative changes, since "a 1 percent increase" in a 5 percent rate could mean 6 percent or 5.05 percent. In networking, bps means bits per second.
3. Behavioral Pain Scale (BPS)
Medical · Patient Assessment Abbreviations
ICU pain tool for sedated, mechanically ventilated adults that rates facial expression, upper limb movement and compliance with ventilation from 1 to 4 each, giving a total of 3 (no pain) to 12.
Example: BPS 8 during suctioning: grimacing, arm flexion, coughing against vent.
Published by Gerald Payen and colleagues in 2001. A version for non-intubated patients (BPS-NI) replaces ventilator compliance with vocalization. Scores above 5 are commonly treated as significant pain. It is one of the two tools recommended by critical care pain guidelines along with CPOT.
Related abbreviations
More data unit abbreviations
- b – Bit
- dpi – Dots per inch
- DWPD – Drive writes per day
- EB – Exabyte
- EiB – Exbibyte
- FLOPS – Floating-point operations per second
- FPS – Frames per second
- GB – Gigabyte
See all 36 data unit abbreviations →
More stock market & investing abbreviations
- ATM – At the money
- ATS – Alternative trading system
- BD – Broker-dealer
- BDC – Business development company
- BSE – BSE Limited (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange)
- BVPS – Book value per share
- CAC 40 – Cotation Assistée en Continu 40 (continuous assisted quotation 40)
- Cboe – Cboe Global Markets (Chicago Board Options Exchange)
See all 110 stock market & investing abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.