[1] A column may contain text values, numbers, or even pointers to files in the operating system.
More formally, a row is a tuple containing a specific value for each column,[4] for example: (1234, 'Big Company Inc.', '123 East Example Street', '456 West Example Drive', 'Big City', 98765).
[5] However, database perfectionists tend to favor using 'field' to signify a specific cell of a given row.
The terms record and field come from the more practical field of database usage and traditional DBMS system usage (This was linked into business like terms used in manual databases e.g. filing cabinet storage with records for each customer).
The terms row and column come from the more theoretical study of relational theory.