English
centimetre
Centimetre comes from French centimètre, from mètre ‘metre/meter’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-1‘to measure’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμέτρον2‘something used to measure: measure, rule, weight’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmetrum2‘a measure’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentmètre3‘metre/meter’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcentimètre4
- Englishearliest quotation 2025centimetre4
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek μέτρον
- 2 Wiktionary, French mètre
- 3 Wiktionary, French centimètre
- 4 Wiktionary, English centimetre
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2025, The International System of Units (SI): “It is not permissible to use abbreviations for unit…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek μέτρον‘to measure’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμέτρονWiktionary, French mètre‘something used to measure: measure, rule, weight’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmetrumWiktionary, French mètre‘a measure’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentmètreWiktionary, French centimètre‘metre/meter’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcentimètreWiktionary, English centimetre
- Englishearliest quotation 2025centimetreWiktionary, English centimetre. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2025, The International System of Units (SI): “It is not permissible to use abbreviations for unit…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’
month, moon, moral, measure, meal, sunny, moody, dimensional, dimension, immense, meta, mesa, menstrual, asymmetric, commensurate, mensa, firman, moodiness, mete, menses, metis, 60 more
through Ancient Greek μέτρον ‘something used to measure: measure, rule, weight’
parameter, geometric, symmetric, asymmetry, metrology, metra, 40 more
through Latin metrum ‘a measure’
through French mètre ‘metre/meter’
Today it means
noun An SI unit of length equal to 10⁻² metres. Symbol: cm
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “centimetre”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek μέτρον, French mètre, French centimètre. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- / centimetre