What is "tera-"

prefix meaning "trillion," used in forming large units of measure (such as terabyte), officially adopted 1947, from Greek teras "marvel, monster" (see terato-).

pre. In the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 10¹². Symbol: T

Tera is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting multiplication by 10 or (one trillion short scale; one billion long scale). It has the symbol T. Tera is derived from Greek word , meaning "monster". The prefix tera- was confirmed for use in the SI in 1960.

Examples of its use:

• terahertz radiation: electromagnetic waves within the band of frequencies from 0.3 to 3 THz
• terabit, tebibit, terabyte and tebibyte, units used in data storage.
• teragram: equal to 10 kg. The Great Pyramid of Giza has a mass of about 6 Tg.
• terasecond: approximately 31,558 years
• teralitre: equal to 10 m. Lake Zurich contains about 4 TL of water.
• terawatt: used to measure total human energy consumption. In 2010 it was 16 TW.
• terametre (= 1,000,000,000 km): Light travels 1.079 Tm in one hour.

Category:SI prefixes