Etymology

megaton

M3E1G2A1T1O1N1

Today it means: A measure of the strength of an explosion or a bomb based on how many million tons of TNT would be needed to produce the same energy. (A derived unit for TNT equivalent.) Full definition →

English ton ← Ancient Greek μέγᾰς (mégăs) ← Proto-Hellenic *mégas
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*méǵh₂s
  2. Proto-Hellenic*mégas
  3. Ancient Greekμέγᾰς (mégăs)
  4. Englishmega-
  5. Englishton
  6. English todaymegaton

From mega- + ton.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.