Centigram

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈsɛntɪˌɡɹæm/

Definitions

1. A metric unit used to measure mass that is equivalent to one hundredth of a gram
2. This unit signifies a mass quantification in the metric system, specifically 0.01 grams
3. A unit in the metric system representing one one-hundredth the weight of a gram

Etymology: The metric system was built on deliberate coinages, and "centigram" is one of its plainest examples: a unit name assembled from prefixes and a base unit rather than grown up through speech. The word came into English from French "centigramme," itself part of the set of decimal names created in France during the late eighteenth-century push to replace local weights and measures with a single rational system. The parts are simple. "Centi-" comes from Latin "centum," meaning hundred, so a centigram is one hundredth of a gram. "Gram" traces back through French and Late Latin "gramma" to Greek "gramma," a small weight or a letter of the alphabet, which is why the base unit has a name that sounds like a written mark. The pairing of a prefix with that base is what makes the word a neat piece of system-building rather than an organic word.

Synonyms: gram, hundredth of a gram