Metric System - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition metric-system

Definition :

A system of weights and measures originating in France the use of which is required by law in many countries and permitted in many others including the United States the system is also called by its French name Le Systegraveme International de Uniteacutes abbreviated SI The principal unit of length is the meter see Meter From this are formed the are the liter the stere the gram etc These units and others derived from them are divided decimally and larger units are formed from multiples by 10 100 1000 and 10000 The successive multiplies are designated by the prefixes deka formerly deca hecto kilo and myria seldom used successive parts by deci centi and milli The prefixes mega and micro are used to denote a multiple by one million and the millionth part respectively giga and nano denote multiples of one billion 1000000000 and one billionth respectively The prefix for one trillion 1012 is tera and for one trillionth 10 12 is pico for one quintillion 1015 peta and for 10 15 one quintillionth femto for 10 18 atto See the words formed with these prefixes in the Vocabulary For metric tables see p 1682