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gram [gram 词源字典]: gram: [18] Gram, or gramme as it is sometimes spelled, was borrowed at the end of the 18th century from French gramme, the term adopted in 1799 as the basic unit of weight in the metric system. The word itself goes back via late Latin gramma ‘small unit’ to Greek grámma (source of English grammar), which originally meant ‘letter of the alphabet’ but later came to be used for ‘small weight’.
=> grammar[gram etymology, gram origin, 英语词源]
deca-: before a vowel, dec-, word-forming element meaning "ten," from Latinized comb. form of Greek deka "ten" (see ten). In the metric system, "multiplied by ten;" while deci- means "divided by ten."
deci-: in the metric system, word-forming element denoting weights of one-tenth of the standard unit of measure, 1801, from French deci-, taken arbitrarily from Latin decimus "tenth," from decem "ten" (see ten).
Dewey Decimal system: proposed 1876 by Melvil Dewey (1851-1931) while acting librarian of Amherst College. He also crusaded for simplified spelling and the metric system.
giga-: word-forming element meaning "billion" (U.S.) in the metric system, 1947, formed arbitrarily from Greek gigas "giant" (see giant).
gram (n.): also gramme, metric unit of weight, 1797, from French gramme (18c.), from Late Latin gramma "small weight," from Greek gramma "small weight," a special use of the classical word meaning "a letter of the alphabet" (see -gram). Adopted into English about two years before it was established in France as a unit in the metric system by law of 19 frimaire, year VIII (1799). "There seems to be no possible objection to adopting the more convenient shorter form, except that the -me records the unimportant fact that the word came to us through French" [Fowler].
kilo-: word-forming element meaning "one thousand," introduced in French 1795, when the metric system was officially adopted there, from Greek khilioi "thousand," of unknown origin.
metricize (v.): "convert to the metric system," 1873, from metric (adj.) + -ize. Related: Metricized; metricizing. Earlier, "to convert to poetic meter" (1850; see metric (n.)).
stere (n.): unit of the metric system for solid measure, 1798, from French stère "unit of volume equal to one cubic meter," from Greek stereos "solid, stiff, firm," from PIE root *ster- (1) "stiff, rigid" (see stereo-). Little used, cubic meter generally serving instead.