meter

meter · noun, verb¹

1. Old English · derived frommetend“one who measures or metes”
2. Middle English · inherited frommetere“one who measures, measurer”
3. English todaymeter

From Middle English metere (“one who measures, measurer”), perhaps (with change in suffix) from Old English metend (“one who measures or metes”), equivalent to mete (“to measure”) + -er. The transference from "person who measures" to "device that measures" was probably assisted by association with -meter, as in barometer, etc. Cognate with Scots mettar, metter (“meter, measurer”), Saterland Frisian Meter, Meeter (“measurer, measuring device, gauge”), West Frisian mjitter (“measurer”), Dutch meter (“measurer, gauge”), German Low German Meter (“measuring device, gauge”), German Messer (“measurer, measuring device, gauge”), Swedish mätare (“measurer”).

meter · noun²

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromμέτρον
2. Latin · derived frommetrum
3. French · borrowed frommètre
4. English todaymeter

Borrowed from French mètre, itself borrowed from Latin metrum, borrowed from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron).

meter · noun³

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromμέτρον
2. Latin · derived frommetrum
3. Old French · derived frommetre
4. Old English · inherited frommeter
5. Middle English · inherited frommeter
6. English todaymeter

From Middle English meter, metre, from Old English meter and Old French metre; both from Latin metrum, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron).

Words from the same roots