a register is a fast accessing storing unit in CPU.
Modern CPUs have a serial of registers which can be used to store frequently used data temporary. As access register is much more faster than access memory units, better performance can be accomplished by keeping variables in registers.
However, the number of registers is limited, in fact, very few, so that we cannot keep all our data in them. Most modern compilers can decide when to keep what variable in register, so the use of the keyword 'register' is not encouraged unless you are sure what you are doing.