Hectare

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈhɛk.tɛə/

Definitions

1. A metric unit of area equal to 10,000 square meters, commonly used to measure land and agricultural fields
2. A unit of measurement for area that corresponds to 10,000 square meters, frequently utilized in agricultural contexts and land assessment
3. This metric measurement, representing an area of 10,000 square meters, is often applied in the evaluation of farmland and other plots of land

Etymology: The "hect-" in "hectare" is the Greek word for "hundred," the same root that appears in "hecatomb," an ancient sacrifice of a hundred oxen. The "are" half comes from Latin "area," meaning an open space or surface, which the French metric system adopted as its unit for a square of land. Put together, the name points to a hundred of those units, and the hectare was defined as exactly that: a hundred ares, each an area ten meters on a side, which makes 10,000 square meters. The word was borrowed into English from French, where it was formed during the adoption of the metric system in the late eighteenth century. French scientists and officials built the new units from Greek and Latin prefixes and bases, so the hectare follows the same pattern as the kilometre, which takes its "kilo" from a Greek word for a thousand.

Synonyms: acre, land area, plot