to·ken / ˈtōkən/ • n. 1. a thing serving as a visible or tangible representation of something abstract: mistletoe was cut from an oak tree as a token of good fortune. See notes at emblem, sign. ∎  a thing given to or done for someone as an expression of one's feelings: I wanted to offer you a small token of my appreciation. ∎ archaic a characteristic or distinctive sign or mark, esp. a badge or favor worn to indicate allegiance to a particular person or party. ∎ archaic a word or object conferring authority on or serving to authenticate the speaker or holder. ∎  Comput. a sequence of bits used in a certain network architecture in which the ability to transmit information is conferred on a particular node by the arrival there of this sequence, which is passed continuously between nodes in a fixed order. ∎  a person chosen by way of tokenism as a nominal representative of a minority or underrepresented group.2. a voucher that can be exchanged for goods or services, typically one given as a gift or offered as part of a promotional offer: redeem this token for a free dessert. ∎  a metal or plastic disk used to operate a machine or in exchange for particular goods or services.3. an individual occurrence of a symbol or string, in particular: ∎  Linguistics an individual occurrence of a linguistic unit in speech or writing, as contrasted with the type or class of linguistic unit of which it is an instance. Contrasted with type. ∎  Comput. the smallest meaningful unit of information in a sequence of data for a compiler.• adj. done for the sake of appearances or as a symbolic gesture: cases like these often bring just token fines from the courts. ∎  (of a person) chosen by way of tokenism as a representative of a particular minority or underrepresented group: she took offense at being called the token woman on the force.PHRASES: by the same token in the same way or for the same reason: there was little evidence to substantiate the gossip and, by the same token, there was little to disprove it.in token of as a sign or symbol of: we bought each other drinks in token of the holiday season.

token
1. One of the meaningful units (names, constants, reserved words, etc.) in the input to a compiler. The lexical analyzer breaks up the input, which is a stream of characters, into a sequence of tokens.

2. A unique sequence of bits granting send permission on a network. See token ring, token bus.

3. See Petri net.

token a characteristic or distinctive sign or mark, especially a badge or favour worn to indicate allegiance to a particular person or party. In early biblical translations, token is used to denote an act which demonstrates divine power or authority.

The word is recorded from Old English (in form tā(e)n) and is of Germanic origin, related to teach.
tokenism the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, especially by recruiting a small number of people from under-represented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality within a workforce.

token sign, symbol, signal OE.; stamped piece of metal XVI; quantity of press work XVII. OE. tāc(e)n = OS. tēcan (Du. teeken), OHG. zeihhan (G. zeichen), ON. teikn :- Gmc. *taiknam (cf. Goth. taikns :- *taikniz), rel. to *taikjan show, TEACH.
So token vb. OE. tācnian = MLG. tēkenen. OHG. zeihhanen, -ōn (G. zeichnen), Goth. taiknjan.

Token

a small amount; a suspicion, of ten called a token amount.

Example : a token of paper (250 printed impressions), 1683.