SI prefixes 2

Ordinar
Prefi Symbo Facto y
Name
x l r Notatio
n*
1 000
000
000
000
yotta Y 10 24
septillion**
000
000
000
000
1 000
000
000
zetta Z 1021 000 sextillion**
000
000
000
exa E 1018 1 000 quintillion**
000
 000
000
000
000
1 000
000
quadrillion*
peta P 1015
000
*
000
000
1 000
000
tera T 1012 trillion**
000
000
1 000
giga G 109 000 billion**
000
1 000
mega M 106 million
000
kilo k 103 1 000 thousand
 
hecto h 102 100 hundred
deka da 101 10 ten
 
100 1 one
 
deci d 10-1  0.1 tenth
centi c 10-2  0.01 hundredth
 
milli m 10-3  0.001 thousandth
micr 0.000
μ 10  -6
millionth
o 001
0.000
nano n 10-9  000 billionth**
001
0.000
10- 000
pico p trillionth**
12
  000
001
0.000
000
femt 10 -
quadrillionth
f 000
o 15
  **
000
001
atto a 10- 0.000 quintillionth
 000
000
 
18
000 **
000
001
0.000
000
000
10- sextillionth*
zepto z 000
21
  *
000
000
001
0.000
000
000
yoct 10- 000 septillionth*
y
o 24
  000 * 
000
000
001
*
The “ordinary notation” column uses
spaces to separate numbers into groups
of three digits. In the US, commas are
more often used for this purpose, but
spaces have the advantage of avoiding
confusion when numbers might be seen
by readers who use the comma as the
decimal point.
** The terms billion, trillion, etc., can be
ambiguous. The terms are used here in
the American English sense, but British
English traditionally defined billion as a
million million, rather than a thousand
million. However, recent British usage
tends to match the American meanings.

SI prefix etymologies

Prefix Pronunciation Origin

YOTE-uh or Latin: “eight”
yotta
YOTT-uh [(103)8]
 Latin: “seven”
zetta ZETT-uh
[(103)7]
Greek: “six”
exa EX-uh
[(103)6]
Greek: “five”
peta PET-uh
[(103)5]
Greek:
tera TAIR-uh
“monster”
JIG-uh or
giga Greek: “giant”
GIG-uh
mega MEG-uh Greek: “big”
Greek:
kilo KILL-oh
“thousand”
Greek:
hecto HECK-toe
“hundred”
deka DECK-uh Greek: “ten”
 
deci DESS-ih Latin: “tenth”
Latin:
centi SENT-ih
“hundredth
Latin:
milli MILL-ih
“thousandth”
micro MIKE-roe Greek: “small”
nano NAN-oh Greek: “dwarf”
Spanish: “tiny
pico PEEK-oh 
bit”
Dano-
femto FEM-toe  Norwegian:
“fifteen”
Dano-
atto AT-toe  Norwegian:
“eighteen”
Latin: “seven”
zepto ZEP-toe
[(103)-7]
Latin: “eight”
yocto YOCK-toe
[(103)-8]