NCEN logo                        Metric Abbreviations and Meanings

The following table will help you to learn common metric prefixes.
Prefix
Abbreviation
Meaning
To convert to the base unit
micro
m 
one millionth
¸ 1,000,000
milli
m
one thousandth
¸ 1000
centi
c
one hundredth
¸ 100
deci
d
one tenth
¸ 10
base unit:
metre
gram
litre
m
g
l
  
x 1
deka
da
ten
x 10
hecto
h
hundred
x 100
kilo
k
thousand
x 1000
mega
M
million
x 1,000,000

The last column in the table shows how to convert a measurement with each prefix into a measurement using the base unit.

For example, a distance of 5.25 km can be converted to metres as follows:
    5.25 km = 5.25 x 1000 m

                                                                                            = 5250 m

Another example:    93 cm = ? m
93 cm ¸ 100 = ? m
93 cm = 0.93 m

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