36-bit word length describes the number of bits, 36, used in some early computers to represent data in the form of words—their basic units of addressing and calculation.

Many early computers aimed at the scientific market had a 36-bit word length. This word length was just long enough to represent positive and negative integers to an accuracy of ten decimal digits (35 bits would have been the minimum). It also allowed the storage of six alphanumeric characters encoded in a six-bit character encoding. Prior to the introduction of computers, the state of the art in precision scientific and engineering calculation was the ten-digit, electrically-powered, mechanical calculator, such as those manufactured by Friden, Marchant and Monroe. These calculators had a column of keys for each digit and operators were trained to use all their fingers when entering numbers, so while some specialized calculators had more columns, ten was a practical limit. Computers, as the new competitor, had to match that accuracy. Decimal computers sold in that era, such as the IBM 650 and the IBM 7070, had a word length of ten digits, as did ENIAC, one of the earliest computers.

Computers with 36-bit words included the MIT Lincoln Laboratory TX-2, the IBM 701/704x/709x's, the UNIVAC 1103/1103A/1105/1100/2200's, the General Electric 600's/Honeywell 6000's, and the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-6/10's (as used in the DECsystem-10/DECSYSTEM-20). Smaller machines, like the PDP-1/ 9/15 used 18-bit words so a double word would be 36 bits. EDSAC had a similar scheme.

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