gigahertz

the term 'gigahertz' is a modern scientific compound. the prefix 'giga-' is derived from the greek word 'gigas', meaning 'giant'. in the international system of units (si), it was adopted to denote a factor of one billion (10^9). the second element, 'hertz', honors the german physicist heinrich rudolf hertz, who made pioneering contributions to the study of electromagnetic waves. thus, the word literally means 'a billion cycles per second', a unit used to measure high frequencies, such as those in computer processors and radio waves.

Structure: giga (billion) + hertz (unit of frequency) giga (from greek 'gigas', meaning giant; a prefix denoting a factor of one billion) + hertz (from german physicist heinrich hertz; a unit of frequency)