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# nanometre

noun (a nanometre, nanometres)

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

## Everyday

A unit of length: one billionth of a metre (0.000000001 m). Symbol: nm. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nanometre/#m1)

### In the lessons

A science and maths word for very, very tiny things: atoms, molecules, viruses and the wavelength of light are measured in nanometres. Computer chips have parts only a few nanometres across. In maths: 1 metre = 1,000,000,000 nm; 1 millimetre = 1,000,000 nm.

### Examples

- A nanometre is a billion times smaller than a metre. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nanometre/#x1)
- A human hair is about 80,000 nanometres wide. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nanometre/#x2)
- Visible light has wavelengths of about 400 to 700 nanometres. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nanometre/#x3)
- Some viruses are about 100 nanometres across. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nanometre/#x4)
- Computer chips have tiny parts measured in nanometres. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nanometre/#x5)
- Your fingernails grow about one nanometre every second. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nanometre/#x6)
- We use nm as the symbol for nanometre. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nanometre/#x7)

### Note

UK, Canada, Australia and NZ spelling "nanometre"; US spelling "nanometer". Symbol "nm" (not "nM", which is a chemistry unit). Prefix "nano-" means one billionth. In maths problems: divide nanometres by 1,000 to get micrometres, by 1,000,000 to get millimetres.

## On Mova

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