petascale

P3E1T1A1S1C3A1L1E1

adjective

A metric for objects on the scale of quadrillions (10¹⁵ or 1,000,000,000,000,000) of elements. Most often used for computer systems; a petascale computer system operates at speeds measured in petaflops and has memory measured in petabytes.

OriginEnglish scale ← Middle English scale ← Latin scāla →
Scrabble 13
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Meanings

adjectivepetascale (not comparable)
  1. not comparableA metric for objects on the scale of quadrillions (10¹⁵ or 1,000,000,000,000,000) of elements. Most often used for computer systems; a petascale computer system operates at speeds measured in petaflops and has memory measured in petabytes.

Origin

  1. Englishpeta-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*skend-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*(s)kn̥d-sleh₂
  4. Proto-Italic*skand-slā
  5. Latinscāla
  6. Middle Englishscale
  7. Englishscale
  8. Englishpetascale

From peta- + scale.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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