Metre

== Equivalents in other units ==
{| class=wikitable style="margin:0 auto;"
|-
! colspan="5" style="text-align:left;"|Metric unit<br/>expressed in non-SI units
! colspan="4" style="text-align:left;"|Non-SI unit<br/>expressed in metric units
|-
| 1 metre ||≈ ||style="text-align:right;"|1.0936 ||[[yard]]||
| 1 yard||= ||style="text-align:right;"|0.9144 ||metre
|-
| 1 metre ||≈ ||style="text-align:right;"|39.370 ||[[inch]]es||
| 1 inch||= ||style="text-align:right;"|0.0254 ||metre
|-
| 1 [[centimetre]] ||≈ ||style="text-align:right;"|{{val|0.39370}} ||inch||
| 1 inch||= ||style="text-align:right;"|2.54 ||centimetres
|-
| 1 [[millimetre]] ||≈ ||style="text-align:right;"|{{val|0.039370}} ||inch||
| 1 inch||= ||style="text-align:right;"|25.4 ||millimetres
|-
| 1 metre ||= ||style="text-align:right;"|10{{sup|10}}||[[ångström]]||
| 1 ångström||= ||style="text-align:right;"|10{{sup|−10}} ||metre
|-
| 1 [[nanometre]] ||= ||style="text-align:right;"|10||ångström||
| 1 ångström||= ||style="text-align:right;"|100 ||[[picometre]]s
|}
Within this table, "inch" and "yard" mean "international inch" and "international yard"<ref>[[#AstinKaro1959|Astin & Karo 1959]].</ref> respectively, though approximate conversions in the left column hold for both international and survey units.
: "≈" means "is approximately equal to";
: "=" means "is exactly equal to".

One metre is exactly equivalent to {{sfrac|5 000|127}}{{nbsp}}inches and to {{sfrac|1 250|1 143}}{{nbsp}}yards.
<!-- 1 metre ≈ 39.370 078 740 157 5 in / or 39.375 in = 1000.125 mm // what is this for? -->

A simple [[mnemonic]] to assist with conversion is "three 3s": 1 metre is nearly equivalent to 3{{nbsp}}[[Foot (unit)|feet]] {{frac|3|3|8}}{{nbsp}}inches. This gives an overestimate of 0.125{{nbsp}}mm.

The ancient Egyptian [[cubit]] was about 0.5{{nbsp}}m (surviving rods are 523–529{{nbsp}}mm).<ref>Arnold Dieter (1991). [https://books.google.com/books?id=DU04vCP_TFAC ''Building in Egypt: pharaonic stone masonry'']. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-506350-9}}. p.251.</ref> Scottish and English definitions of the [[ell]] (two cubits) were 941{{nbsp}}mm (0.941{{nbsp}}m) and 1143{{nbsp}}mm (1.143{{nbsp}}m) respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?plen=7441&startset=10747969&query=ELL&fhit=ell&dregion=form&dtext=snd#fhit |title=Dictionary of the Scots Language |access-date=2011-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321184808/http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?plen=7441&startset=10747969&query=ELL&fhit=ell&dregion=form&dtext=snd#fhit |archive-date=2012-03-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-BHnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA221 |title=The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge |publisher=Charles Knight |pages=221–22 |date=1840-06-06 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> The ancient Parisian ''toise'' (fathom) was slightly shorter than 2{{nbsp}}m and was standardised at exactly 2{{nbsp}}m in the [[mesures usuelles]] system, such that 1{{nbsp}}m was exactly {{frac|1|2}}{{nbsp}}toise.<ref name=H&H>{{cite web |url = https://archive.org/details/outlinesofevolut00halluoft/page/66 |title = Outlines of the evolution of weights and measures and the metric system |first1 = William  |last1 = Hallock |first2 = Herbert T |last2 = Wade |publisher = The Macmillan Company |year = 1906 |pages = 66–69|location = London}}</ref> The Russian [[verst]] was 1.0668{{nbsp}}km.{{sfn|Cardarelli|2004}} The [[Scandinavian mile|Swedish mil]] was 10.688{{nbsp}}km, but was changed to 10{{nbsp}}km when Sweden converted to metric units.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://snl.no/mil |title=Mil |encyclopedia=Store norske leksikon |first=Knut |last=Hofstad |access-date=2019-10-18 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>