means A meter is the base unit of length in the metric system, equal to about 39.37 inches, used worldwide as the standard measure of distance.

from From French 'mètre,' borrowed from Greek 'metron,' meaning 'a measure.' When French scientists set out to define it during the revolutionary push for a rational system of measurement in the late 18th century, they fixed the meter as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole — a slice of the Earth itself. That definition later gave way to a platinum bar, then to the wavelength of light, and finally to the distance light travels in a tiny fraction of a second, so the word's humble root 'to measure' now anchors itself in the speed of light.