Decimetres

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Units of length in the metric system, each measuring exactly one tenth of a metre
2. Metric measurements of distance equal to 10 centimetres or 0.1 metres
3. Standard metric units of length, with each one representing a tenth-part division of the metre

Etymology: "Decimetre" is a plain technical coinage built from two parts: the Latin "decem", meaning ten, and the French-derived "mètre", the metric unit of length. Together they name one tenth of a metre, roughly four inches. The metric system's decimal prefixes were designed in France in the 1790s, when the revolutionary government set out to replace the tangled regional measures of the old regime with a single system based on powers of ten. The plural "decimetres" is simply the plural of "decimetre", formed in the regular English way by adding an "s". Because the metric prefixes all follow the same pattern, "deci-" sits alongside "centi-", "milli-" and "kilo-" in the same system, and each is a deliberate combining form rather than a word that grew up gradually in speech.

Synonyms: decimeters