Centi-

"Centi" redirects here. For other uses, see Centi (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Milli-.

Centi (symbol c) is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of one hundredth. Proposed in 1793,^[1] and adopted in 1795, the prefix comes from the Latin centum, meaning "hundred" (cf. century, cent, percent, centennial). Since 1960, the prefix is part of the International System of Units (SI). It is mainly used in combination with the unit metre to form centimetre, a common unit of length.

Example

• A honey bee is about 1.3 centimetres long.^[2]

SI prefixes

• v
• t
• e

Prefix		Base 10	Decimal	Adoption [nb 1]
Name	Symbol
quetta	Q	1030	1000000000000000000000000000000	2022[3]
ronna	R	1027	1000000000000000000000000000
yotta	Y	1024	1000000000000000000000000	1991
zetta	Z	1021	1000000000000000000000
exa	E	1018	1000000000000000000	1975[4]
peta	P	1015	1000000000000000
tera	T	1012	1000000000000	1960
giga	G	109	1000000000
mega	M	106	1000000	1873
kilo	k	103	1000	1795
hecto	h	102	100
deca	da	101	10
—	—	100	1	—
deci	d	10−1	0.1	1795
centi	c	10−2	0.01
milli	m	10−3	0.001
micro	μ	10−6	0.000001	1873
nano	n	10−9	0.000000001	1960
pico	p	10−12	0.000000000001
femto	f	10−15	0.000000000000001	1964
atto	a	10−18	0.000000000000000001
zepto	z	10−21	0.000000000000000000001	1991
yocto	y	10−24	0.000000000000000000000001
ronto	r	10−27	0.000000000000000000000000001	2022[3]
quecto	q	10−30	0.000000000000000000000000000001
Notes Prefixes adopted before 1960 already existed before SI. The introduction of the centimetre–gram–second system of units was in 1873.

See also

• Percent