micrometer

See also: micro-meter, micrometre, and micromètre

English

a micrometer (etymology 1, noun sense 1) in action

several common types of micrometer (etymology 1, noun sense 1): caliper type, inside type, and depth type

micrometer (etymology 1, noun sense 1) with parts labeled

Etymology 1

From French micromètre, equivalent to micro- +‎ -meter.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /maɪˈkɹɒmɪtə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /maɪˈkɹɑmɪtəɹ/, [maɪˈkɹɑmɪɾɚ]

Noun

micrometer (plural micrometers)

2. A device used to measure distance very precisely but within a limited range, especially depth, thickness, and diameter.

Derived terms

• ocular micrometer
• photomicrometer
• radiomicrometer
• sonomicrometer
• stage micrometer
• submicrometer
• ultramicrometer
• videomicrometer

Translations

instrument

• Arabic: ميكرومتر m
• Basque: mikrometro
• Catalan: micròmetre m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 千分尺 (zh) (qiān fēn chǐ)

• Czech: mikrometr (cs) m
• Dutch: micrometer (nl) m
• Estonian: kruvik
• Finnish: mikrometriruuvi (fi), mikrometri (fi)
• French: micromètre (fr) m
• German: Messschraube f, Mikrometerschraube f, Mikrometer (de) n
• Hebrew: מיקרומטר (he)
• Hindi: सूक्ष्ममापी (sūkṣmamāpī)
• Hungarian: mikrométer (hu)
• Indonesian: mikrometer (id)
• Italian: micrometro (it) m
• Japanese: マイクロメータ (maikuromēta)
• Korean: 마이크로미터 (maikeuromiteo)
• Latvian: mikrometrs m
• Lithuanian: mikrometras m
• Luxembourgish: Mikrometerschrauf
• Malay: jangka halus, mikrometer
• Norwegian: mikrometer (no) m
• Persian: میکرومتر (fa) (mikrômetr)
• Polish: mikrometr (pl) m
• Portuguese: micrómetro m
• Romanian: micrometru (ro)
• Russian: микро́метр гла́дкий m (mikrómetr gládkij), микро́метр (ru) m (mikrómetr)
• Serbo-Croatian: mikrometarski vijak m
• Slovak: mikrometer m
• Slovene: mikrometer m
• Spanish: micrómetro (es) m
• Swedish: mikrometer (sv) c
• Ukrainian: мікрометр m (mikrometr)

Further reading

• Micrometer (measuring device) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:micrometers on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Etymology 2

From micro- (“one millionth”) +‎ meter.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪkɹəˌmiːtə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪkɹoʊˌmiːtəɹ/, [ˈmaɪkɹoʊˌmiːɾɚ]

Noun

micrometer (plural micrometers)

2. US spelling of micrometre (“one-millionth of a metre”).
   • 2025 September 26, Grant Maloy Smith, “What Is a Strain Gauge Sensor and How Does It Work?”, in DEWESoft‎^[1], archived from the original on 14 November 2025:

     A strain is usually expressed in μm/m (micrometer per meter), also known as microstrain, which has the symbol µε. You may also see “mV/V,” which refers to the output in millivolts per volt of excitation.

Translations

one millionth of a meter

• Catalan: micròmetre m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 微米 (zh) (weimi)

• Czech: mikrometr (cs) m
• Danish: mikrometer c
• Dutch: micrometer (nl) m
• Esperanto: mikrometro
• Finnish: mikrometri (fi)
• French: micromètre (fr) m
• German: Mikrometer (de) m
• Greek: μικρόμετρο (el) n (mikrómetro)
• Hungarian: mikrométer (hu)
• Ido: mikrometro (io)
• Interlingua: micrometro
• Irish: micriméadar m
• Italian: micron (it) m
• Japanese: マイクロメートル (ja) (maikuromētoru)
• Korean: 마이크로미터 (maikeuromiteo)
• Latin: micrometrus
• Malay: mikrometer
• Polish: mikrometr (pl) m
• Portuguese: micrómetro m (Portugal), micrômetro (pt) m (Brazil)
• Russian: микроме́тр (ru) m (mikrométr), микро́н (ru) m (mikrón)
• Spanish: micrómetro (es) m
• Swedish: mikrometer (sv) c
• Tagalog: mikrometro n
• Telugu: మైక్రోమీటరు (maikrōmīṭaru)
• Thai: ไมโครเมตร
• Vietnamese: micrômet

Further reading

• Micrometer (unit of measure) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• micrometre

Dutch

Etymology

From micro- +‎ meter.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mi‧cro‧me‧ter

Noun

micrometer m (plural micrometers, diminutive micrometertje n)

1. micrometer (unit of measure)
2. micrometer (measuring device)