Hektares

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An area of land equivalent to 10,000 square meters
2. A metric unit used in agriculture and forestry for measuring large plots
3. Commonly used in land measurement to quantify agricultural and environmental spaces

Etymology: "Hektares" is the plural of "hectare," a unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, or about 2.47 acres. The singular "hectare" is the form that carries the etymology: it was formed in French from the Greek prefix "hekaton," meaning "hundred," joined to "are," the metric unit of area derived from Latin "area," meaning an open space or threshing floor. The "hecto-" element thus signals a hundred times the base unit, which is why a hectare equals one hundred ares. Because the plural simply adds the English "-s" to the singular, the story of the word lies entirely in the singular form.

Synonyms: hectares, acres, plots, fields, land