SI prefixes and their etymologies

Prefixes

Pr Sy Fa
Nam
efi mb ct Ordinary Notation*
e
x ol or
1 000 000 000 
yo 10 septil
Y 24 000 000 000 
tta lion
000 000
1 000 000 000 
zet 10 sextil
Z 21 000 000 000 
ta lion
000
ex 10 1 000 000 000  quint
E 18
a 000 000 000 illion
quad
pe 10 1 000 000 000 
P 15 rillio
ta 000 000
n
ter 10 1 000 000 000  trilli
T 12
a 000 on
gi 10 billio
G 9 1 000 000 000
ga n
m
10 milli
eg M 6 1 000 000
on
a
Pr Sy Fa
Nam
efi mb ct Ordinary Notation*
e
x ol or
kil 10 thous
k 3 1 000
o and
he
10 hund
ct h 2 100
red
o†
de
10
ca da 1 10 ten
†

10 one,
1
0
unity
de 10-
†d 0 .1 tenth
ci 1

ce
10- hund
nti c 2 0 .01
† redth
thous
mi 10 -
m 3 0 .001 andt
lli
h
mi μ 10- 0 .000 001 milli
Pr Sy Fa
Nam
efi mb ct Ordinary Notation*
e
x ol or
cr 6
onth
o
na 10- billio
n 9 0 .000 000 001
no nth
pi 10- .000 000 000  trilli
p 12 0
co 001 onth
fe quad
10- .000 000 000 
mt f 15 0 rillio
000 001
o nth
quint
att 10- .000 000 000 
a 0 illion
o 18
000 000 001
th
ze .000 000 000  sextil
10-
pt z 21 0 000 000 000  liont
o 001 h
yo .000 000 000  septil
10-
ct y 24 0 000 000 000  liont
o 000 001 h
Notes
*
The “ordinary notation” column uses thin
spaces to separate numbers into groups of
three digits. In the US, commas are more
often used for this purpose, but thin spaces
have the advantage of avoiding confusion
when numbers might be seen by readers
who use the comma as the decimal marker.
The practice of using commas as three-digit
separators is considered incorrect for this
very reason, and the use of thin spaces for
that purpose is encouraged by the BIPM.
†
These prefixes are rarely used and not
preferred, as they do not conform to the
pattern of being multiples of 1000 [(103)n].
See Is it OK to use centimetres? in the FAQ
for more details.
Etymologies

Prefix Pronunciation Origin

YOTE-uh or Latin: “eight”
yotta
YOT-tuh [(103)8]
Latin: “seven”
zetta ZETT-uh
[(103)7]
exa EX-uh Greek: “six”
Prefix Pronunciation Origin
[(103)6]
Greek: “five”
peta PET-uh
[(103)5]
tera TAIR-uh Greek: “monster”
giga GIG-uh or JIG-uh Greek: “giant”
mega MEG-uh Greek: “big”
kilo KILL-oh Greek: “thousand”
hecto HECK-toe Greek: “hundred”
deca DECK-uh Greek: “ten”
deci DESS-ih Latin: “tenth”
centi SENT-ih Latin: “hundredth”
milli MILL-ih Latin: “thousandth”
micro MI-crow Greek: “small”
nano NA-noh Greek: “dwarf”
pico PEEK-oh Spanish: “tiny bit”
Dano-Norwegian:
femto FEM-toe
“fifteen”
Dano-Norwegian:
atto AT-toe
“eighteen”
Latin: “seven”
zepto ZEP-toe
[(103)-7]
Prefix Pronunciation Origin
Latin: “eight”
yocto YOCK-toe
[(103)-8]
Last updated: 2015-06-30