Number & MeasureGreek → English
Metrology
/mɪˈtrɒlədʒi/noun
The science of measurement, covering units, standards and the accuracy of instruments.
The Greek roots
μέτρον
métron
measure
λόγος
lógos
study, account
Literally: “study of measurement”
The story of the word
Not to be confused with meteorology, which is about things aloft. The field's biggest recent event came in 2019, when the kilogram stopped being a platinum cylinder in a vault near Paris and became a number fixed to the Planck constant. Every base unit is now defined by a constant of nature rather than an object that can be scratched.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
metremetronomesymmetrygeometry
In a sentence
The lab holds national metrology standards for mass and length.
Semiconductor metrology now works at a scale of a few atoms.