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# cm

abbreviation (cm — centimeter or centimetre); noun when read out (centimetre, centimetres; casual: cents, cm's)

«cm» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Cm is short for centimeter, a small unit of length. A meter has 100 centimeters. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#m1)
2. A centimeter is about the width of your little fingernail. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#m2)
3. (casual) People say «c-m» or «centimetres» out loud, or «a few cm»; in a hurry «cm» may be written «cms» (wrong). [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#m3)
4. (casual) In texts «cm» can also mean «call me», so look at the context. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#m4)
5. (formal) Exams and science write «cm», «cm²» (square centimetres), «cm³» (cubic centimetres) and «to the nearest centimetre». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#m5)

### In the lessons

maths: a unit of length; cm² for area, cm³ for volume; rulers marked in cm and mm; science: measuring plants, heights of pupils; everyday life: the size of a book or a phone, how tall you are; in casual talk «grew like 3 cm», «it's a few cm too short»; in rough talk «a bloody centimetre too short, typical»; in the exam voice «a segment of length 12 cm», «correct to the nearest centimetre», «the area in cm²»

### Examples

- The line is 12 cm long. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#x1)
- The square has sides of 5 cm. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#x2)
- 1 m = 100 cm. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#x3)
- The area is 24 square cm. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#x4)
- My pencil is 15 cm long. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#x5)
- The plant grew 3 cm in a week. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#x6)
- A centimeter has 10 millimeters. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#x7)
- She is 140 cm tall. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#x8)
- I grew like 3 cm since summer! [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#x9)
- The shelf is a bloody centimetre too short for the book. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#x10)
- A rectangle of length 8 cm and breadth 3 cm is given. Compute its area in cm². [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#x11)
- cm when u get home (in a text: call me). [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/#x12)

### Note

A unit, not a thing counted. Trap: cm and m differ by 100; cm² is area; cm³ is volume. Write «cm» with no full stop and no s: 5 cm, not 5 cms. 1 cm = 10 mm. «breadth» in an exam means width. In a text, «cm» may mean «call me», with no number in it.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «cm» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cm/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«cm» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/cm.html) on Mova free.