mega-

See also: MEGA, Mega, mega, méga, mëga, mêga, mêgâ, and méga-

Languages (23)

Czech • Danish • Dutch • Finnish • German • Hungarian • Icelandic • Indonesian • Italian • Japanese • Latvian • Norwegian Bokmål • Norwegian Nynorsk • Polish • Portuguese • Romanian • Slovak • Slovene • Spanish • Swedish • Turkish

Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Prefix

mega-

Used with taxon names to form other taxon names, usually for a morphologically similar taxon differing only in size

Derived terms

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s

Proto-Hellenic *mégas

Ancient Greek μέγᾰς (mégăs)der.

English mega-

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”), from Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂s (“great”). Cognate with Latin magnus, Sanskrit मह (maha, “great, massive, large-scale, epic”), and with Germanic words: Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺𐌹𐌻𐍃 (mikils), Old English micel, Middle English muchel, English much, Old High German mihhil, Old Norse mikill, Danish meget.

Pronunciation

enPR: mĕgʹə, IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɡə/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(pre-/ɡ/-tensing)
- (Upper Midwestern US, Northwestern US, Canada) IPA^(key): /meɪ̯ɡə/

Prefix

SI prefix
M	Previous:	kilo-
M	Next:	giga-

mega-

(originally) Very large, great.
In the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by one million (10⁶).
Alternative form: M- (symbol)

Near-synonyms: million, M
(computing) Multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 2²⁰ (= 1,048,576, the binary number closest to a million). Computing symbol: Mi.
(computing, marketing) Multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 2¹⁰ × 10³ (= 1,024,000, the binary round number closest to a million).
(slang, augmentative) Really, very, uber-, super-.
- 2014, Michael Griffo, Starfall (The Darkborn Legacy), New York, NY: Kensington Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, pages 93–94:
  What?! I'm not sure if I scream that out loud or if my inner voice bounces off the insides of my skull. Why is Archie once again meandering over to Team Nadine? Sounds like I'm not the only one who's mega-confused.

Usage notes

Because the meaning “2²⁰” is in conflict with the meaning “one million” used with SI units, the alternative mebi- has been proposed and promulgated as an international standard, with Mi as its symbol.^[1]

Synonyms

(very large): megalo-, (before a vowel) megal-
(before a vowel) meg-
(augmentative): super-, supra-, hyper-, ultra-, uber-, arch-, over-, giga-, -zilla, grand

Translations

very large, great

Belarusian: мега- (mjeha-)
Bulgarian: мега- (mega-)
Catalan: mega- (ca)
Dutch: mega- (nl)
Estonian: mega- (et)
Finnish: mega- (fi), jätti-
French: méga- (fr)
Galician: mega- (gl)
Georgian: მეგა- (mega-)
Greek: μεγα- (el) (mega-)
Hebrew: מֶגָה (méga), מֶגָ־ (méga-)
Indonesian: maha- (id)
Italian: mega- (it)
Japanese: 超 (ja) (chō), 巨大 (ja) (kyodai)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: mega- (no)

Nynorsk: mega-
Polish: mega- (pl)
Portuguese: mega- (pt)
Russian: ме́га- (ru) (méga-)
Spanish: mega- (es)

multiplication factor one million

Belarusian: мега- (mjeha-)
Bulgarian: мега- (mega-)
Catalan: mega- (ca)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 兆- (yue) (siu⁶)

Mandarin: 兆- (zh) (zhào-) (mainland China), 百萬- / 百万- (zh) (bǎiwàn-) (Taiwan)
Czech: mega- (cs)
Danish: mega-
Dutch: mega- (nl)
Estonian: mega- (et)
Finnish: mega- (fi)
French: méga- (fr)
Galician: mega- (gl)
Georgian: მეგა- (mega-)
German: mega- (de)
Greek: μεγα- (el) (mega-)
Hebrew: מֶגָה (méga), מֶגָ־ (méga-)
Hungarian: mega- (hu)
Ido: mega-
Indonesian: mega-
Italian: mega- (it)
Japanese: メガ (ja) (mega)
Korean: 메가- (mega-)
Latvian: mega-
Malay: mega- (ms)
Polish: mega- (pl)
Portuguese: mega- (pt)
Romanian: mega- (ro)
Russian: ме́га- (ru) (méga-)
Slovak: mega-
Slovene: mega-
Spanish: mega- (es)
Swedish: mega- (sv)
Thai: เมกะ- (mee-ga)
Turkish: mega-
Vietnamese: mê-ga

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Latin: ^{(please verify)} mega-

References

^ “Prefixes for binary multiples”, in The NIST Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty‎^[1], NIST, 2024, archived from the original on 12 October 2026

Anagrams

game, mage

Czech

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s

Proto-Hellenic *mégas

Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas)der.

Czech mega-

Derived from Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [mɛɡa ]

Prefix

mega-

mega- (SI system)

Derived terms

Czech terms prefixed with mega-

Danish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Prefix

mega-

mega- (SI system)
(informal) very
- 2014, Thomas Halling, Mia & Marcus, Lindhardt og Ringhof, →ISBN:
  Mia var jo megasød.
  Mia was really sweet.
- 2015, Kjell Eriksson, Natravnen, Klim, →ISBN:
  Netop derfor, sagde Wolf, – netop fordi det er så stort, så fandens megastort.
  Precisely for that reason, Wolf said, - precisely because it is so large, so damn huge.