French word

mètre

Pronunciation

IPA/mɛtʁ/

Meaning

  • masculine nounmeter

Example

J'ai acheté un mètre de tissu.

I bought a meter of fabric.

Illustration for mètre (meter)

More examples

Le couloir fait à peine un mètre de large.

The corridor is barely one meter wide.

Core concept

A regular measure that sets out physical distance or the rhythm of a poem.

Common phrases

  • un mètre

    a meter

  • à un mètre

    one meter away

  • un mètre carré

    one square meter

Similar words

centimètre: A unit of length suited to measuring small parts and precise short lengths.
kilomètre: A unit of length used for measuring distances across towns, cities, and regions.

Definition in French

Unité de mesure de longueur du système métrique employée pour exprimer des distances et des dimensions; en littérature, terme qui désigne aussi le mètre poétique.

Word origin

The French noun mètre developed from Greek metron through Latin metrum, with the metric-unit sense established during the adoption of the metric system.

Usage tips

  • After a quantity such as mètre, French normally uses de before the material measured, as in un mètre de tissu.

Related words

Word lists with this word