Word.ws English Dictionary

quetta-

/ˈkwɛ.tə/

quetta- prefix: in the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 10³⁰ (a short scale nonillion or long scale quintillion).

Prefix

quetta-

  1. In the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 10³⁰ (a short scale nonillion or long scale quintillion).
    Synonyms:
    quecca-, geop-
    Antonyms:
    quecto-

quetta- meaning in Vietnamese

quetta- in Vietnamese

SI prefix
quê-ta, kê-ta

Synonyms of quetta-

Antonyms

Origin of quetta-

Blend of q (an arbitrarily chosen initial letter) + Latin decem (“ten”) + -ta (to match the final syllable of most SI prefixes from peta- upwards). Coined by Richard J. C. Brown and adopted by the General Conference on Weights and Measures in 2022 as an expansion to the metric prefixes beyond 10^(±24). Some popular unofficial terms already in use were hella-, bronto- and xenna-, but terms beginning with the same letters as existing prefixes were considered undesirable, as were those beginning with common scientific letters such as b or x. Richard J. C. Brown suggested that the new terms begin with r and q, due to their rarity as unit symbols, and that the trends followed by the other prefixes be continued: that they be based on Latin or Greek; that large prefixes end with -a and small prefixes end with -o; that they should be in corresponding large and small pairs; and that the first letters of each prefix should be in reverse alphabetical order (as has been the case for the newer prefixes). He therefore suggested ronna- and ronto- (evoking Ancient Greek ἐννέα (ennéa) and Latin novem (“nine”)), and quecca- and quecto- (evoking Ancient Greek δέκα (déka) and Latin decem (“ten”))...

Questions about quetta-

What does quetta- mean?
Quetta- means in the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 10³⁰ (a short scale nonillion or long scale quintillion).
What is quetta- in Vietnamese?
Quetta- in Vietnamese is quê-ta, kê-ta. See Quetta- meaning in Vietnamese.
What part of speech is quetta-?
Quetta- is a prefix.
How do you pronounce quetta-?
Quetta- is pronounced /ˈkwɛ.tə/ (US).

Words near quetta- in the dictionary

  1. quetiapine
  2. quetsch
  3. quetsches
  4. Quetta
  5. Quetta Division
  6. quetta-
  7. quettabit
  8. quettabits
  9. quettabyte
  10. quettabytes
  11. quettacyonid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: quetta- (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-quetta-.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-quetta-.wav.

Cite this entry: “quetta-.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quetta-. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.