Etymology

picosecond

P3I1C3O1S1E1C3O1N1D2

Today it means: An SI unit of time equal to 10⁻¹² seconds. Symbol: ps Full definition →

English second ← Middle English secunde ← Old French seconde
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The story

  1. Proto-Celtic*bekkos
  2. Gaulish*bekkosbor.?
  3. Latinbeccus
  4. Old Spanishbico
  5. Spanishpico
  6. Englishpico-
  7. Old Frenchseconde
  8. Middle Englishsecunde
  9. Englishsecond
  10. English todaypicosecond

From pico- (“metric prefix”) + second.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.