mil
/mɪl/ noun
Forms mils
- noun An angular mil, a unit of angular measurement equal to ¹⁄₆₄₀₀ of a complete circle. At 1000 metres one mil subtends about one metre (0.98 m). Also ¹⁄₆₀₀₀ and ¹⁄₆₃₀₀ are used in other countries.
- noun A unit of measurement equal to ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ of an inch (25.4 µm), usually used for thin objects, such as sheets of plastic. “For this task, I prefer the plastic sheeting that is 10 mils thick.”
- noun A former subdivision (¹⁄₁₀₀₀) of the Maltese lira.
Synonyms
thou mL cm³ cc mm mike-mike mile Swedish mile milliliter millilitre cubic centimeter cubic centimetre
Etymology
Ultimately from Latin millesimum. The clippings come by way of the clipped words (e.g., millilitre, millimetre, milliradian). The metric units come about via clipping of translingual milli- (“SI prefix”)
Clipping of million.
Clipping of military.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “mil”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details