Meter - metre

The words meter and metre have a complex relationship. They have different parentages; but their roots are related. Thir usage is different in various ways.

• In current British English, the spelling meter is restricted to:
  • a noun meaning 'an instrument for measuring', such as a gas meter, voltmeter, light meter, parking meter, electricity meter, taximeter, and so on. This meaning becomes an element in such compound nouns as thermometer, ammeter, speedometer and altimeter.
  • a verb meaning 'to measure [with a meter]'. This is usually to record consumption. The meaning of the verb is sometimes expanded to 'to deliver a measured quantity', and 'to equip with a meter'.
    • Archaically, there were other uses, now obsolete: people who measured were sometimes called meters; a meter, from the obsolete verb 'mete' ('to dream') is a dreamer; in Old English`, a meter[e] was a person who painted (from the verb 'to mete', meaning 'to paint' or 'depict'.
• The normal spelling in British English is metre. Two meanings may be important to users of AWE:
  • The fundamental unit of length in the Système Internationale or metric system is the metre, in French and in British English.
  • The patterning of the sounds of traditional verse (poetry), or its rhythm, is best called metre. For an introduction, go to rhythm and metre; for more detail, go to Metre in verse, and follow the links.
• In appearance, be warned that British and American English treat them differently. Wikipedia, for instance, says (May 2008): "The spelling meter is correct in virtually all uses of the word" ([[1]] ). This is not true of British English.

Etymological note: these related words are derived from a common Indo-European root meaning 'to measure'. In the Romance languages, this has developed a final 'r' sound, which it did not in the Germanic languages. In Old English it was metan; in Middle English '[to] mete'. This form survived until at least Early Modern English, when the Authorised Version has Jesus say "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Matthew VII, 2)

• You may want to see related pages on Kilometer - kilometre, and the homophones meat, meet, and mete.