metre

See also: métré, metré, mètre, -metre, and -mètre

English

Alternative forms

• meter

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmiːtə/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmiːtəɹ/, [ˈmiːɾɚ]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: me‧tre
• Rhymes: -iːtə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From French mètre, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre”). Doublet of meter, metron, and mether.

Noun

metre (plural metres)

2. 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.

   Holonyms: kilometre < megametre < gigametre < terametre < petametre

   Meronyms: picometre < nanometre < micrometre < millimetre < centimetre < decimetre

   • 1797, The Monthly magazine and British register, number 3:

     The measures of length above the metre are ten times ... greater than the metre.

   • 1873 April, The Young Englishwoman:

     A dress length of 8 metres of the best quality costs 58 francs.

   • 1928 April 15, The Observer:

     The 12-metre yachts ... can be sailed efficiently with four paid hands.

   • 1949 June 8, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four‎^[2], London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC, Part I, Chapter I:

     It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black mustache and ruggedly handsome features.

   • 2025 August, “The International System of Units (SI)”, in Bureau International des Poids et Mesures‎^[3], archived from the original on 17 September 2025, page 147:

     It is not permissible to use abbreviations for unit symbols or unit names, such as sec (for either s or second), sq. mm (for either mm² or square millimetre), cc (for either cm³ or cubic centimetre), or mps (for either m/s or metre per second).

Usage notes

• The spelling metre is used by both the International Bureau of Weights and Measures and the International Organization for Standardization in their English-language texts, and is used in all English-speaking countries other than the US. The spelling used in the US is meter—for instance, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology and the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual use meter.

Synonyms

• m

Derived terms

• 1000 metre
• attometre
• cubic metre
• cumec
• exametre
• femtometre
• gigametre
• kilogram-metre
• linear metre
• megametre
• metre gauge
• metre-gauge
• metre-kilogramme-second
• metre-kilogram-second
• metre per second
• metre stick
• metre-tonne-second
• metre-ton-second
• metric
• metrication
• metrology
• micrometre
• myriametre
• nanometre
• newton-metre
• newton metre
• polymetre
• quettametre
• ronnametre
• square metre
• terametre
• yoctometre
• yottametre
• zeptometre
• zettametre

(Metric scale)

• centimetre
• decametre
• decimetre
• hectometre
• kilometre
• millimetre

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: mita
• → Burmese: မီတာ (mita)
• → Chinese: 米突 (mǐtū, mǐtú)
• → Japanese: メーター (mētā)
• → Korean: 미터 (miteo) (South Korea), 메터 (meteo) (North Korea, Yanbian)
• → Māori: mita
• → Malay: meter
• → Sinhalese: මීටර් (mīṭar)
• → Swahili: mita
• → Tamil: மீட்டர் (mīṭṭar)
• → Yoruba: mítà

Translations

unit of length

• Afrikaans: meter (af)
• Albanian: metër (sq) m
• Amharic: ሜትር (metr)
• Arabic: مِتْر (ar) m (mitr)

  Egyptian Arabic: متر m (metr)

  Hijazi Arabic: متر m (mitir)

• Armenian: մետր (hy) (metr)
• Asturian: metru m
• Azerbaijani: metr (az)
• Bashkir: метр (mitr)
• Belarusian: метр m (mjetr), мэ́тар m (métar) (Taraškievica)
• Bengali: মিটার (bn) (miṭar)
• Bulgarian: ме́тър (bg) m (métăr)
• Burmese: မီတာ (my) (mita)
• Catalan: metre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 米 (yue) (mai⁵, mai¹), 公尺 (gung¹ cek³)

  Dungan: ми (mi), метр (miətr)

  Hakka: 米 (mí), 公尺 (kûng-chhak), 米打 (mé-tá)

  Hokkien: 米 (zh-min-nan) (bí), 公尺 (zh-min-nan) (kong-chhioh), 米達 / 米达 (bí-ta̍t) (dated)

  Mandarin: 米 (zh) (mǐ), 公尺 (zh) (gōngchǐ), 米突 (zh) (mǐtū, mǐtú) (dated)

• Circassian:

  West Circassian: метр (metr)

• Czech: metr (cs) m
• Danish: meter (da) c
• Dutch: meter (nl) m
• Esperanto: metro (eo)
• Estonian: meeter
• Faroese: metur m
• Finnish: metri (fi)
• French: mètre (fr) m
• Galician: metro (gl) m
• Georgian: მეტრი (meṭri)
• German: Meter (de) m
• Greek: μέτρο (el) n (métro)
• Gujarati: મીટર (mīṭar)
• Haitian Creole: mèt
• Hawaiian: mīka
• Hebrew: מֶטֶר (he) m (méter)
• Hindi: मीटर (hi) m (mīṭar)
• Hungarian: méter (hu)
• Icelandic: metri (is) m
• Ido: metro (io)
• Indonesian: meter (id)
• Ingrian: metra
• Interlingua: metro
• Irish: méadar m
• Italian: metro (it) m
• Japanese: メートル (ja) (mētoru), ㍍ (ja) (mētoru)
• Jarai: mĕt
• Kannada: ಮೀಟರು (kn) (mīṭaru)
• Kazakh: метр (metr)
• Khmer: ម៉ែត្រ (km) (maet)
• Korean: 미터 (ko) (miteo), 메터 (ko) (meteo) (North Korea, Yanbian)
• Kyrgyz: метр (ky) (metr)
• Lao: ແມັດ (lo) (mæt)
• Latin: metrum (la)
• Latvian: metrs (lv) m
• Limburgish: maeter (li)
• Lingala: metele
• Lithuanian: metras (lt) m
• Lü: ᦶᦙᧆ (maed)
• Macedonian: метар m (metar)
• Malay: meter (ms)
• Malayalam: മീറ്റർ (ml) (mīṟṟaṟ)
• Māori: mita
• Mòcheno: meter m
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: метр (mn) (metr)

  Mongolian script: ᠮᠧᠲ᠋ᠷ (mētr)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: meter (no) m

  Nynorsk: meter (no) m

• Ossetian: метр (metr)
• Pannonian Rusyn: метер m (meter)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: مِتْر (fa) (metr)

• Polish: metr (pl) m
• Portuguese: metro (pt) m
• Romanian: metru (ro) m
• Russian: метр (ru) m (metr)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ме̏тар m

  Latin: mȅtar (sh) m

• Shan: မႅတ် (mět)
• Sinhalese: මීටර් (mīṭar)
• Slovak: meter m
• Slovene: meter (sl) m
• Spanish: metro (es) m
• Subanen:

  Lapuyan Subanun: hamistru

• Swahili: mita (sw)
• Swedish: meter (sv) c
• Tagalog: metro (tl), panukat
• Tajik: метр (tg) (metr)
• Tamil: மீட்டர் (ta) (mīṭṭar)
• Tatar: метр (metr)
• Telugu: మీటరు (mīṭaru)
• Thai: เมตร (th) (méet)
• Tigrinya: ሜትሮ (metro)
• Turkish: metre (tr)
• Turkmen: metr
• Ukrainian: метр m (metr)
• Urdu: میٹر (mīṭar)
• Uyghur: مېتىر (mëtir)
• Uzbek: metr (uz)
• Vietnamese: mét (vi), thước (vi), thước tây (vi)
• Walloon: mete (wa) m
• Yakut: миэтэрэ (mietere)
• Yiddish: מעטער m (meter)
• Yoruba: mítà

See also

• Appendix on SI Units

References

“metre”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.

Further reading

• SI prefixes
• International Bureau of Weights and Measures

Verb

metre (third-person singular simple present metres, present participle metring, simple past and past participle metred)

1. (UK, rare) Alternative spelling of meter.

Usage notes

The standard spelling of the verb meaning to measure is meter throughout the English-speaking world. The use of the spelling metre for this sense (outside music and poetry) is possibly a misspelling.

Etymology 2

From Old English, from Latin metrum, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre”).

Noun

metre (countable and uncountable, plural metres)

2. (UK, Canada) Rhythm or measure.
   2. The rhythm or measure in language (especially verse).
   4. The rhythm or measure in musical composition.

      Hyponym: musical time

Translations

rhythm or measure in verse and musical composition

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: metre (ca) m, mètrica f
• Esperanto: metro (eo)
• German: Metrum (de) n, Versmaß (de) n (poetry)
• Hindi: छंद (hi) m (chand)
• Hungarian: versmérték (hu), metrum (hu), ütem (hu)
• Malayalam: വൃത്തം (ml) (vr̥ttaṁ)
• Polish: metrum (pl) n

Verb

metre (third-person singular simple present metres, present participle metring, simple past and past participle metred)

1. (poetry, music) To put into metrical form.

See also

• metronome
• metric
• Wikipedia article: metre (poetry)

Anagrams

• -meter, -treme, Emert, meter, remet, retem

Catalan

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French mètre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈmɛ.tɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈme.tɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈme.tɾe]

Noun

metre m (plural metres)

1. metre/meter (unit of measure, 100 cm)
2. (poetry, music) metre/meter (the rhythm of a song or poem)

Derived terms

• metratge

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old Catalan metre, from Latin mittere. Compare Occitan metre, French mettre, Spanish meter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [ˈme̞.tɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈmə.tɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈmɛ.tɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈme.tɾe]

Verb

metre (first-person singular present meto, first-person singular preterite metí, past participle mes); root stress: (Northern) /e̞/; (Balearic) /ə/; (Central) /ɛ/; (Northwestern, Valencia) /e/

1. (transitive, archaic) to put, to place

   Synonym: posar

2. (transitive, archaic) to set

Conjugation

    Central Catalan conjugation of metre (second conjugation, irregular)

infinitive			metre
gerund			metent
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		mes		mesa
		plural		mesos		meses
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	meto	mets	met	metem	meteu	meten
	imperfect	metia	meties	metia	metíem	metíeu	metien
	future	metré	metràs	metrà	metrem	metreu	metran
	preterite	metí	meteres	meté	metérem	metéreu	meteren
	conditional	metria	metries	metria	metríem	metríeu	metrien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	meti	metis	meti	metem	meteu	metin
	imperfect	metés	metessis	metés	metéssim	metéssiu	metessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	met	meti	metem	meteu	metin
	negative (no)	—	no metis	no meti	no metem	no meteu	no metin

Related terms

• cometre
• entremetre
• malmetre
• mesa
• missa
• missatge
• missió
• prometre

Further reading

• “metre”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “metre”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “metre” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “metre”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Franco-Provençal

Etymology

Inherited from Latin mittere.

Verb

metre (ORB, broad)

1. to put

References

• mettre in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
• metre in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan metre, from Latin mittere. Attested from the 12th century.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Languedoc):

  (file)

Verb

metre

1. (transitive) to put, to place

Conjugation

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• mesa

Old French

Etymology

From Latin mittere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmetɾə/

Verb

metre

1. to put, to place
   • 1260–1267, Brunetto Latini, “Cist premiers livres parole de la naissance de toutes choses [This first book talks about the birth of all things]” (chapter 1), Livre I - Premiere partie, in Livres dou Tresor [Book of Treasures]; republished as Polycarpe Chabaille, compiler, Li livres dou tresor par Brunetto Latini‎^[4], Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1863, page 1:

     si come li sires qui vuet en petit leu amasser choses de grandisme vaillance […] por acroistre son pooir […] i met il les plus chieres choses et les plus precieux joiaus que il puet, selonc sa bone entencion, tout autressi est li cors de cest livre compilez de sapience

     Just like the lord, who wishes to accumulate very valuable things in a tiny place […] in order to increase his power, […] puts there—according to his good intention—the dearest things and the most precious jewels he can, so the body of this book is filled with knowledge

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of metre (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		metre			avoir mis
gerund		en metant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		metant
past participle		mis
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	met	mez	met	metons	metez	metent
	imperfect	metoie, meteie	metoies, meteies	metoit, meteit	metiiens, metiens	metiiez, metiez	metoient, meteient
	preterite	mis	meṣis	mist	meṣimes	meṣistes	misdrent
	future	metrai	metras	metra	metrons	metroiz, metreiz, metrez	metront
	conditional	metroie, metreie	metroies, metreies	metroit, metreit	metriiens, metriens	metriiez, metriez	metroient, metreient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	mete	metes	mete	metons	metez	metent
	imperfect	meṣisse	meṣisses	meṣist	meṣissons, meṣissiens	meṣissoiz, meṣissez, meṣissiez	meṣissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	met	—	metons	metez	—

Descendants

• Middle French: mettre, mectre, metre
  • French: mettre
• Norman: maette (Guernsey), mettre (Jersey)

Turkish

metre

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *med-

Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Indo-European *-om

Proto-Indo-European *-trom

Proto-Hellenic *-tron

Ancient Greek -τρον (-tron)

Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron)der.

Latin metrumlbor.

French mètre

Ottoman Turkish متره (metre)

Turkish metre

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish متره (metre), from French mètre, a learned borrowing from Latin metrum, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmetɾe/
• Hyphenation: met‧re

Noun

metre (definite accusative metreyi, plural metreler)

1. metre, meter (unit of measure, 100 cm)
2. rule, folding rule

Declension

Declension of metre

singular plural nominative metre metreler definite accusative metreyi metreleri dative metreye metrelere locative metrede metrelerde ablative metreden metrelerden genitive metrenin metrelerin Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular metrem metrelerim 2nd singular metren metrelerin 3rd singular metresi metreleri 1st plural metremiz metrelerimiz 2nd plural metreniz metreleriniz 3rd plural metreleri metreleri definite accusative singular plural 1st singular metremi metrelerimi 2nd singular metreni metrelerini 3rd singular metresini metrelerini 1st plural metremizi metrelerimizi 2nd plural metrenizi metrelerinizi 3rd plural metrelerini metrelerini dative singular plural 1st singular metreme metrelerime 2nd singular metrene metrelerine 3rd singular metresine metrelerine 1st plural metremize metrelerimize 2nd plural metrenize metrelerinize 3rd plural metrelerine metrelerine locative singular plural 1st singular metremde metrelerimde 2nd singular metrende metrelerinde 3rd singular metresinde metrelerinde 1st plural metremizde metrelerimizde 2nd plural metrenizde metrelerinizde 3rd plural metrelerinde metrelerinde ablative singular plural 1st singular metremden metrelerimden 2nd singular metrenden metrelerinden 3rd singular metresinden metrelerinden 1st plural metremizden metrelerimizden 2nd plural metrenizden metrelerinizden 3rd plural metrelerinden metrelerinden genitive singular plural 1st singular metremin metrelerimin 2nd singular metrenin metrelerinin 3rd singular metresinin metrelerinin 1st plural metremizin metrelerimizin 2nd plural metrenizin metrelerinizin 3rd plural metrelerinin metrelerinin Predicative forms singular plural 1st singular metreyim metrelerim 2nd singular metresin metrelersin 3rd singular metre metredir metreler metrelerdir 1st plural metreyiz metreleriz 2nd plural metresiniz metrelersiniz 3rd plural metreler metrelerdir

Further reading

• “metre”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu