tera-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "tera"

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τέρας (téras, “monster”). Also from Ancient Greek τέτταρες (téttares, “four”), by analogy with tetra- for being the fourth power of 10³. Doublet of terato-.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.ɹə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Prefix

SI prefix

T	Previous:	giga-
	Next:	peta-

tera-

2. In the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 10¹² (short scale trillion or long scale billion).

   Alternative form: T- (symbol)

   Antonym: pico- (10⁻¹²)

   Coordinate term: see at Wikipedia > bit and byte prefixes

   Near-synonym: T

   a 2-terawatt increase

4. (now deprecated, but still in common use) tebi- (2⁴⁰ = 1024⁴).

   Alternative form: T- (symbol)

   Synonym: Ti- (symbol)

   Coordinate term: see at Wikipedia > bit and byte prefixes

   a 2-terabyte hard drive

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with tera-

tera amp

tera-amp

teraampere

terabase

terabaud

tebi-

terabit

terabuck

terabyte

teracycle

teraelectron volt

teraelectronvolt

terafeature

teraflop

teragram

teragramme

terahash

terahertz

tera-joule

terajoule

teraliter

teralitre

teralumen

terameter

terametre

tera-ohm

teraohm

teraop

teraparsec

terapixel

terascale

terasecond

teraton

tera-volt

teravolt

teravoxel

tera-watt

terawatt

terawatt hour

terawatt-hour

terawatt-year

• tebi-
• terabyte
• teraelectron volt
• teraflare
• teragram
• terahertz, THz
• terameter
• terasecond
• tera win

Translations

SI prefix

Bulgarian: тера- (tera-) Chinese: Cantonese: 太- (taai3) Mandarin: 太- (zh) (tài-) (mainland China), 太拉- (tàilā-) (mainland China), 兆- (zh) (zhào) (Taiwan) Czech: tera- (cs) Dutch: tera- (nl) Finnish: tera- (fi) French: téra- (fr) Galician: tera- (gl) German: tera- (de) Greek: τερα- (tera-) Hungarian: tera- (hu) Ido: tera- Indonesian: tera- Japanese: テラ- (tera-) Korean: 테라- (tera-) Macedonian: тера- (mk) (tera-) Malay: tera- (ms) Portuguese: tera- (pt) Russian: тера- (ru) (tera-) Spanish: tera- (es) Thai: เทระ- (tee-rá) Vietnamese: tê-ra

Anagrams

• 'eart, Ater, Reta, aret, arte-, rate, tare, tear

Czech

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τέρας (téras, “monster”).

Prefix

tera-

1. tera-

Derived terms

Czech terms prefixed with tera-

terabajt

terabit

terabyte

terajoule

terawatt

Further reading

• “tera-”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
• tera- in Slovník afixů užívaných v češtině, 2017

Dutch

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

tera

Wikipedia ^nl

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τέρας (téras, “monster”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Prefix

tera-

1. tera-

Derived terms

Dutch terms prefixed with tera-

tera-ampère

teraseconde

Finnish

Etymology

Internationalism (see English tera-), ultimately from Ancient Greek τέρας (téras).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈterɑ-/, [ˈt̪e̞rɑ̝-]

Prefix

tera-

1. tera-

Further reading

• “tera-”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023

German

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τέρας (téras, “monster”).

Prefix

tera-

1. tera-

Derived terms

German terms prefixed with tera-

Terawatt

Further reading

• “tera-” in Duden online
• “tera-” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Portuguese

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τέρας (téras, “monster”).

Prefix

tera-

1. tera- (SI prefix indicating 10¹², a trillion)
2. tebi- (IEC prefix indicating 2⁴⁰)

Derived terms

Portuguese terms prefixed with tera-

terabit

terabyte

Further reading

• “tera-”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “tera-”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “tera-”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Spanish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τέρας (téras, “monster”).

Prefix

tera-

1. tera- (SI prefix multiplying the unit by 10¹²)
2. (computing) tebi- (IEC prefix multiplying the unit by 2⁴⁰)

Derived terms

Spanish terms prefixed with tera-

terabit

terabyte

Further reading

• “tera-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025