English
megameter
Megameter comes from French mégamètre, 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–presentmégamètre4
- Englishtodaymegameter4
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek μέτρον
- 2 Wiktionary, French mètre
- 3 Wiktionary, French mégamètre
- 4 Wiktionary, English megameter
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 mégamètre‘metre/meter’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentmégamètreWiktionary, English megameter
- EnglishtodaymegameterWiktionary, English megameter
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’
month, moon, measure, moral, meal, sunny, dimensional, dimension, moody, immense, mesa, meta, menstrual, asymmetric, commensurate, mensa, firman, moodiness, menses, metis, mete, 59 more
through Ancient Greek μέτρον ‘something used to measure: measure, rule, weight’
geometric, symmetric, parameter, asymmetry, metrology, metra, 39 more
through Latin metrum ‘a measure’
metric, kilometre, madder, centimetre, 8 more
through French mètre ‘metre/meter’
Another origin of megameter
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*méǵh₂s‘big, great’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*mégasreconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμέγᾰςmégăs‘big’
- Englishtodaymegameter
Today it means
noun An instrument for determining longitude by observation of the stars.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “megameter”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek μέτρον, French mètre, French mégamètre. 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- / megameter