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The Metric System uses the following naming convention: If the unit of measure is a fraction of the "base unit", in the case meters, it uses a Latin prefix. If the unit is a multiple of the "base unit", the prefix is Greek. Also, the Metric system is based on powers of 10.

Of course that only helps if you know a little about those languages. A general rule is that Greek uses lots of K's and T's, while Latin, uses lots of D's, C's and M's.

In this case, the prefix "milli" is Latin, so you know a millimeter is fraction of a meter. Milli is Latin for thousand. So there are 1000 millimeters in a meter. On a related not "kilo" is Greek for thousand. So a kilometer is 1000 meters.

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12y ago

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