Where does “kilometre” come from?
Kilometre comes from French kilomètre, combining Ancient Greek χίλιοι (khilioi, "thousand") with Ancient Greek μέτρον (metron, "measure").
kilometre (English): An SI unit of length equal to 103 metres. Symbol:...
Definitions
- An SI unit of length equal to 103 metres. Symbol:...
Ancestry of “kilometre”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | French | kilomètre | kilometre |
| 2 | French | mètre | metre/meter; first-person singular present... |
| 3 | Latin | metrum | a measure |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | μέτρον | something used to measure: measure, rule, weight;... |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -τρον | Forms instrument nouns |
| 6 | Proto-Hellenic | -tron | Forms instrument nouns from verb stems |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -trom | Forms nouns denoting a tool or instrument |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -tḗr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
Words derived from “kilometre”