metric
met·ric/ˈmɛt.ɹɪk/adjective, noun, verb
metric is spelled M-E-T-R-I-C: 6 letters and 2 syllables (met·ric). It appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, metric means “Of or relating to the metric system of measurement” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in metric?
| Letters | 6: M-E-T-R-I-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: met·ric |
| In writing | 7.6 times per million words; the 8,542nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is metric?
Metric appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce metric?
- /ˈmɛt.ɹɪk/
Metric has 2 syllables, split met·ric in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-metric.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of metric
- metrics plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- metricking participle, present
- metricked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does metric mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of or relating to the metric system of measurement.
- 2
Of or relating to measurement by meters or by metrics.
- 3
Of or relating to the meter of a piece of music.
- 4
Of or relating to distance.
noun
- 1
A way to measure something; a means of deriving a quantitative measurement or approximation for otherwise qualitative phenomena (especially used in engineering).
What metric should be used for performance evaluation?
- 2
Ellipsis of metric system.
- 3
A function which satisfies a particular set of formal conditions, created to generalize the notion of the distance between two points. Formally, a real-valued function d on M×M, where M is a set, is called a metric if (1) d(x,y)=0 if and only if x=y, (2) d(x,y)=d(y,x) for all pairs (x,y), and (3) d obeys the triangle inequality.
- 4
A metric tensor.
verb
- 1
To measure or analyse statistical data concerning the quality or effectiveness of a process.
We need to metric the status of software documentation.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Metric in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | métrique , -métrique |
| German | metrisch , Metrik, Messgröße, Maß, Kriterium, Kennzahl |
| Portuguese | métrico , métrica |
| Spanish | métrico , métrica |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does metric come from?
From French métrique (1864), from New Latin metricus (“pertaining to the system based on the meter”), from metrum (“a meter”); see meter. By surface analysis, metre + -ic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).