Metros

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A unit of measure in the metric system equivalent to one thousand meters used globally in scientific contexts
2. The plural form of a term used to describe urban centers or city areas, particularly in terms of population density and infrastructure
3. A reference to public transport systems, particularly rail networks, in urban settings that facilitate commuter travel across metropolitan regions

Etymology: The plural "metros" is an inflected form of "metro", so its story is really the story of that singular. The word began as a clipping: French speakers shortened "chemin de fer métropolitain", the "metropolitan railway", to "métro". The phrase was itself a translation of "Metropolitan Railway", the name given to the earliest section of the London Underground when it opened in 1863. The idea of a city's rail network as its "metropolitan" system was thus borrowed back and forth across the Channel before the short form took hold. "Metropolitan" comes from Ancient Greek "mētēr", meaning "mother", and "polis", meaning "city". Together they produced "mētropolis", the mother city, a term for a chief city with dependent settlements around it. Its later sense of a large urban centre, and of the transport and infrastructure that serve it, developed long after classical Greece.

Synonyms: subways, undergrounds, rapid transit, mass transit