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• peta-
  peta-

  a combining form used in the names of units of measure equal to one quadrillion (1015 ) of a given base unit.
• Peta
  Peta

  abbreviation

  People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
• peta–
  peta–

  A prefix that means:

peta-

American  

1. a combining form used in the names of units of measure equal to one quadrillion (1015 ) of a given base unit.

   petabyte.

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Peta ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

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peta- ² British  

prefix

1.  P.  denoting 10 ¹⁵

   petametres

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peta– Scientific  

1. A prefix that means:

2. One quadrillion (10 ¹⁵), as in petahertz, one quadrillion hertz.

3. 2 ⁵⁰ (that is, 1,125,899,906,842,624), which is the power of two closest to a quadrillion, as in petabyte.

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Etymology

Origin of peta-

Origin uncertain

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

peta- Peta

The binary peta- and exa- loadings, though well established, are not in jargon use either —- yet.

From The Jargon File, Version 2.9.10, 01 Jul 1992 by Raymond, Eric S.

The binary peta- and exa- loadings, though well established, are not in jargon use either — yet.

From The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0, 24 Jul 1996 by Raymond, Eric S.

The binary peta- and exa- loadings, though well established, are not in jargon use either -- yet.

From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Steele, Guy L.

“All in all, the top decile grew its consumer debt at a 10.9% annualized rate while all other households grew theirs at a 2.2% clip, well below 3.6% inflation,” Peta notes.

From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026

Peta estimates that half of all households don’t save any of their paychecks in a normal year, meaning “this can’t go on forever,” as he puts it.

From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026

But profit margins aren’t going back to 1950s or 1960s levels “any more than the three-martini lunch or unionization will come back to life,” Peta wrote in a report.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026

Animal rights group Peta has said it is concerned about the risk of zoonotic diseases like monkeypox, which can spread from animals to humans.

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2024

I found a little scrap of canvas with a sketch of Peta on it—may I keep it?

From The Captain of the Gray-Horse Troop by Garland, Hamlin