Etymograph

English

metre

Metre comes from French mètre ‘metre/meter’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-1‘to measure’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμέτρον2métron‘measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmetrum3
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentmètre2‘metre/meter’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1797metre2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek μέτρον
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English metre
  3. 3 Wiktionary, French mètre
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1797, The Monthly magazine and British registe: “The measures of length above the metre are ten…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek μέτρον‘to measure’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμέτρονWiktionary, English metremétron‘measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmetrumWiktionary, French mètre
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentmètreWiktionary, English metre‘metre/meter’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1797metreWiktionary, English metre. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1797, The Monthly magazine and British registe: “The measures of length above the metre are ten…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’

month, moon, moral, measure, meal, sunny, dimensional, dimension, moody, immense, mesa, meta, menstrual, commensurate, asymmetric, mensa, firman, moodiness, menses, metis, mete, 60 more

through Ancient Greek μέτρον ‘measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre’

parameter, geometric, symmetric, asymmetry, metrology, metra, 41 more

through Latin metrum

metric, madder, 10 more

through French mètre ‘metre/meter’

meter, 8 more

Another origin of metre

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-‘to measure’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμέτρονmétron‘measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmetrum‘a measure’
  4. Englishtodaymetre

Today it means

noun The basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Système International d'Unités), equal to the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299 792 458 seconds. The metre is equal to 39+⁴⁷⁄₁₂₇ (approximately 39.37) imperial inches.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “metre”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek μέτρον, French mètre. 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- / metre

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