nanometer

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US/ˈnænəˌmitɚ/US[ˈnænəˌmiɾɚ]US[ˈnɛənəˌmiɾɚ]

A form of nanometre — An SI subunit of length equal to 10⁻⁹ metres.

Less commonScrabble 11

Meanings

nounnanometer (plural nanometers)

plural nanometers

  1. USUS spelling of nanometre.

    It is noteworthy that biological phenomena occur at scales ranging from nanometers to megameters, and from nanoseconds to gigaannums.

    2017, Ashok K. Goel et al., “Is Biologically Inspired Design Domain Independent?”, in John S. Gero, editor, Design Computing and Cognition ’16, →ISBN, page 157
    3 more examples

    We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.

    2012 January 28, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2012, page 23

    Images also indicated that gel porosity was in the nanometer range, similar to previously characterized hyperporous beads generated using the same sol-gel methods, which limits mobility of encapsulated cells (Fig 2B ) [23 ].

    2016 January 14, “Toward Bioremediation of Methylmercury Using Silica Encapsulated Escherichia coli Harboring the mer Operon”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI

    The newest form of gold created in a lab is the thickness of two atoms, according to a new study. It’s only 0.47 nanometers thick, which is one million times thinner than a human finger nail.

    2019 August 6, Ashley Strickland, “Scientists just created the world’s thinnest gold and it’s two atoms thick”, in CNN

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna metric unit of length equal to one billionth of a meter

Broader
metric linear unit

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekνᾶνος (nânos)
  2. Latinnānus
  3. Englishnano-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*med-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*médeti
  6. Proto-Germanic*metaną
  7. Proto-West Germanic*metan
  8. Old Englishmetan
  9. Middle Englishmeten
  10. Middle Englishmetere
  11. Englishmeter
  12. Englishnanometer

From nano- + meter.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

nanometer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nanometer

MLA

“nanometer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nanometer. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nanometer,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nanometer.

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