-meter

-me·ter
Australia, UK/-mɪ.tə/Canada, US/-mɪ.təɹ/New Zealand/-mə.tə/Scotland/-mɪ.təɾ/

suffix

Used to form the names of measuring devices.

OriginAncient Greek μέτρον (métron) ← Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- →
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

suffix-meter (noun-forming suffix, plural -meters)

plural -meters · alternative UK nonstandard -metre · alternative -o-meter · alternative -ometer

  1. Used to form the names of measuring devices.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*med-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meh₁-
  3. Ancient Greekμέτρον (métron)
  4. English-meter

Borrowed from French -mètre, a learned borrowing from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan -metre
  • -metreused to form a measuring device
Danish -meter
  • -meterused to form a measuring device
Dutch -meter
  • -meterused to form a measuring device
Finnish -metri
  • -metriused to form a measuring device
French -mètre
  • -mètreused to form a measuring device
German -meter
  • -meterused to form a measuring device
Greek -μετρο
  • -μετρο (-metro)used to form a measuring device
Hebrew מַד־, ־מטר
  • מַד־ (mád-)used to form a measuring device
  • ־מטר (-méter)used to form a measuring device
Hungarian -mérő
  • -mérőused to form a measuring device
Irish -méadar
  • -méadarused to form a measuring device
Italian -metro
  • -metroused to form a measuring device
Japanese 計
  • 計 (kei)used to form a measuring device
Korean 계
  • 계 (gye)used to form a measuring device
Polish -mierz, -metr
  • -mierzused to form a measuring device
  • -metrused to form a measuring device
Portuguese -metro
  • -metroused to form a measuring device
Romanian -metru
  • -metruused to form a measuring device
Russian -ме́р, -метр
  • -ме́р (-mér)used to form a measuring device
  • -метр (-metr)used to form a measuring device
Spanish -metro
  • -metroused to form a measuring device
Swedish -meter
  • -meterused to form a measuring device
Cite this entry
APA

-meter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-meter

MLA

“-meter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-meter. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “-meter,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-meter.

Source: -meter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.