A meter is one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole.

South Pole

The metric system, formed on the meter as the unit of length, has four other leading units, all connected with and dependent upon this. The are, the unit of surface, is the square of ten meters. The liter, the unit of capacity, is the cube of a tenth part of the meter. The stere, the unit of solidity, has the capacity of a cubic meter. The gram, the unit of weight, is the weight of that quantity of distilled water at its maximum density which fills the cube of a hundredth part of the meter. Each unit has its decimal multiple and sub-multiple, that is, weights and measures ten times larger or ten times smaller than the principal unit. The prefixes denoting the multiples are derived from the Greek, and are deca, ten; hecto, hundred; kilo, thousand; and myria, ten thousand. Those denoting sub-multiples are taken from the Latin, and are deci, ten; centi, hundred; milli, thousand.