nanometer

American  

[nan-uh-mee-ter, ney-nuh-] / ˈnæn əˌmi tər, ˈneɪ nə- /

noun

1. one billionth of a meter. nm

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nanometer Scientific  

/ năn′ə-mē′tər /

1. One billionth (10 ^{- 9}) of a meter.

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Etymology

Origin of nanometer

First recorded in 1960–65; nano- + meter ¹

Compare meaning

How does nanometer compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• micron vs. nanometer

Example Sentences

Although scientists have long understood the basics of this process, studying its detailed structure at the nanometer scale inside intact human cells has remained challenging.

From Science Daily • Apr. 30, 2026

For comparison, a nanometer is one billionth of a meter, far smaller than anything visible to the human eye.

From Science Daily • Mar. 31, 2026

In Arizona, it makes four and five nanometer chips; two nanometer chips won’t be made there till 2030.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 24, 2026

To support that claim, the company provided The Wall Street Journal with images of chip designs printed at nanometer scale.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 28, 2025

Dekker provided the first demonstration of this loop extrusion predicted by Mirny, collaborated on synthetic cells with Schwille, and developed new ways to use nanopores—holes or membranes of nanometer size—to sequence DNA and proteins.

From Science Magazine • Jun. 6, 2024