nanometer

See also: Nanometer, nanométer, and nano-meter

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek νᾶνος (nânos)bor.

Latin nānusbor.

English nano-

Proto-Indo-European *med-

Proto-Indo-European *-eti

Proto-Indo-European *médeti

Proto-Germanic *metaną

Proto-West Germanic *metan

Old English metan

Middle English meten

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂s(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-āsijos

Proto-Italic *-āsios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

Middle English metere

English meter

English nanometer

From nano- + meter.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnænəˌmitɚ/, [ˈnænəˌmiɾɚ], [ˈnɛənəˌmiɾɚ]

Noun

nanometer (plural nanometers)

2. US spelling of nanometre.
   • 2012 January, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 14 November 2012, page 23:

     We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.

   • 2016 January 14, “Toward Bioremediation of Methylmercury Using Silica Encapsulated Escherichia coli Harboring the mer Operon”, in PLOS ONE‎^[2], →DOI:

     Images also indicated that gel porosity was in the nanometer range, similar to previously characterized hyperporous beads generated using the same sol-gel methods, which limits mobility of encapsulated cells (Fig 2B ) [23 ].

   • 2017, Ashok K. Goel et al., “Is Biologically Inspired Design Domain Independent?”, in John S. Gero, editor, Design Computing and Cognition ’16, →ISBN, page 157:

     It is noteworthy that biological phenomena occur at scales ranging from nanometers to megameters, and from nanoseconds to gigaannums.

   • 2019 August 6, Ashley Strickland, “Scientists just created the world’s thinnest gold and it’s two atoms thick”, in CNN‎^[3], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 21 August 2025:

     The newest form of gold created in a lab is the thickness of two atoms, according to a new study. It’s only 0.47 nanometers thick, which is one million times thinner than a human finger nail.

Derived terms

• NanoPutian
• subnanometer

Translations

nanometre — see nanometre

Anagrams

• nanometre

Danish

Etymology

From nano- +‎ meter.

Noun

nanometer c (singular definite nanometeren, plural indefinite nanometer)

1. nanometre, or nanometer (US) (SI unit of length)

Declension

Declension of nanometer

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	nanometer	nanometeren	nanometer	nanometerne
genitive	nanometers	nanometerens	nanometers	nanometernes

References

• “nanometer” in Den Danske Ordbog

Slovak

Etymology

From nano- + meter.

Noun

nanometer m inan

1. nanometre, nanometer

Further reading

• “nanometer”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

Swedish

Noun

nanometer c

1. a nanometre

Usage notes

Indefinite form plural could also be nanometrar/nanometrars

Declension

Declension of nanometer

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	nanometer	nanometers
	definite	nanometern	nanometerns
plural	indefinite	nanometer	nanometers
	definite	nanometerna	nanometernas