millimetre
Meaning
a unit of length equal to one thousandth of a metre.
Structure
Usage
the gap must be less than one millimetre wide.
she carefully measured the insect's wing, which was only two millimetres long.
the precision engineering required tolerances within a fraction of a millimetre.
Etymology
The word 'millimetre' is a modern scientific compound formed in French from classical elements. The prefix 'milli-' derives from Latin 'mille', meaning 'thousand', and was adopted into the metric system to denote one thousandth of a base unit. The base 'metre' originates from Greek 'metron', meaning 'a measure'. The term thus logically and literally means 'a thousandth of a measure', precisely defining a very small unit of length within a decimal system of measurement. This construction exemplifies the systematic and internationally comprehensible nature of scientific vocabulary.
Analysis
- milli: from latin 'mille', meaning 'thousand'. a prefix denoting a factor of one thousandth. - metre: from greek 'metron', meaning 'measure'. a combining form denoting a unit of measurement.