means In math, the modulus is the number you divide by in modular arithmetic (and the remainder left over), though it also names the absolute value or magnitude of a quantity.

from From Latin 'modulus,' a diminutive of 'modus' meaning 'measure' or 'standard' — so literally 'a little measure.' The same 'modus' branches into 'mode,' 'model,' 'module,' and 'moderate,' a whole family descended from the idea of measuring out the proper amount. The mathematical sense was adopted in scientific Latin, with Gauss famously using it for the divisor in his foundational work on congruences.