Millimeter
/ˈmɪl.ɪˌmiː.tər/noun
A unit of length equal to one-thousandth of a meter.
Did you know?The word is a modern scientific coinage built from Latin roots, and its precision helped turn measurement into a kind of secular magic: the power to make the invisible exact.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
mille
“thousand”
Late Latin
Latin
-meter
“measure”
1790s
French
millimètre
“one-thousandth of a metre”
19th Century
English
millimeter
“one-thousandth of a meter”