Other forms: metres
A metre is the basic unit of length, a little over a yard. Two metres long, a metre of cloth, square metres.
It was first defined as a ten-millionth of the distance from the pole to the equator, then by a metal bar in Paris, and is now defined by the speed of light — which means the metre is fixed and the speed of light is exact by definition. Americans spell it meter.
1nounmetreThe basic unit of length, a little over a yard.
“The pool is twenty-five metres long, and I can swim it underwater.”
metre is a unit.
Also accepted in games: meter
French metre comes from Greek metron, a measure. Metric and geometry are relatives.
Ancient Greek
μέτρον — measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre
French
mètre
English, today
metre
From French mètre, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (“measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre”). a doublet of meter and metron and mether.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA