FIFO

American

[fahy-foh] / ˈfaɪ foʊ /

noun

first-in, first-out.
Computers. a storage and retrieval technique, used mainly for data, in which the first item stored is also the first item retrieved.

FIFO British

/ ˈfaɪfəʊ /

acronym

first in, first out (as an accounting principle in costing stock) Compare LIFO

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

FIFO, or "first-in, first-out," is a classic eviction algorithm developed in the 1960s.

From Science Daily • Jan. 24, 2024

In 2002, Amazon changed the way it accounted for inventory, from the last-in first-out, or LIFO, system to first-in first-out, or FIFO.

From BusinessWeek • Oct. 10, 2013

Thus it's called a FIFO, or First-In-First-Out, because the first thing you put in the pipe is the first thing to come out the other end.

From Debian GNU/Linux : Guide to Installation and Usage by Goerzen, John

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023