non-metric
|non-metric|
🇺🇸
/nɑnˈmɛtrɪk/
🇬🇧
/nɒnˈmɛtrɪk/
not based on metric
Etymology
'non-metric' is formed from the negative prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non', meaning 'not') plus 'metric' (from Greek 'metron' meaning 'measure', via Latin/French).
'metric' comes from Greek 'metron' → Late Latin/Medieval Latin 'metricus' → Old French 'metrique' → Middle English 'metric'; the prefix 'non-' was attached in modern English to negate it, producing 'non-metric'.
Originally 'metric' related simply to 'measure'; over time it came to mean both 'relating to measurement/metrics' and specifically 'relating to the metric (SI) system' or 'a metric' in mathematics; 'non-metric' developed as the direct negation meaning 'not metric' in these senses.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
not using or based on the metric system (SI); employing other units of measurement.
The historical records were kept in non-metric units such as inches and pounds.
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Adjective 2
in mathematics/topology: not metrizable; not describable by a metric that defines distances between points.
Certain topologies on infinite products are non-metric and cannot arise from any distance function.
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Adjective 3
relating to nonmetricity in differential geometry or gravity theories: indicating a lack of metric compatibility.
Some extended gravity models include non-metric degrees of freedom in addition to the metric tensor.
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Last updated: 2025/11/23 11:31