mega-

See also: MEGA, Mega, mega, méga, mëga, mêga, mêgâ, and méga-

Translingual

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Prefix

mega-

1. Used with taxon names to form other taxon names, usually for a morphologically similar taxon differing only in size

Derived terms

Translingual terms prefixed with mega-

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”), from Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂s (“great”). Cognate with Latin magnus, Sanskrit मह (maha, “great, massive, large-scale, epic”), and with Germanic words: Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺𐌹𐌻𐍃 (mikils), Old English micel, Middle English muchel, English much, Old High German mihhil, Old Norse mikill, Danish meget.

Pronunciation

• enPR: mĕgʹə, IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɡə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• also IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪɡə/

Prefix

SI prefix

M	Previous:	kilo-
	Next:	giga-

mega-

1. (originally) Very large, great.
2. In the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by one million (10⁶.) SI Symbol: M.
3. (computing) Multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 2²⁰ (= 1,048,576, the binary number closest to a million). Computing symbol: Mi.
4. (computing, marketing) Multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 2¹⁰ × 10³ (= 1,024,000, the binary round number closest to a million).
5. (slang, augmentative) Really, very, uber-, super-.
   • 2014, Michael Griffo, Starfall (The Darkborn Legacy), New York, NY: Kensington Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, pages 93–94:

     What?! I'm not sure if I scream that out loud or if my inner voice bounces off the insides of my skull. Why is Archie once again meandering over to Team Nadine? Sounds like I'm not the only one who's mega-confused.

Usage notes

• Because the meaning "2²⁰" is in conflict with the meaning "one million" used with SI units, the alternative mebi- has been proposed and promulgated as an international standard, with Mi as its symbol.

Synonyms

• (very large): megalo-, (before a vowel) megal-
• (before a vowel) meg-
• (augmentative): super-, supra-, hyper-, ultra-, uber-, arch-, over-, giga-, -zilla, grand

Antonyms

• micro-

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with mega-

• mega
• megabar
• megabase
• megabit
• megabucks
• megabyte
• megacephalic, megacephalous, megacephaly
• Megacheiroptera
• megacity
• megacurie
• megacycle
• megadeath
• megadonor
• megadose
• megadyne
• megafarad
• megafauna
• megaflop
• megaflora
• megagamete
• megagauss
• megagram, megagramme
• megaherbivore
• megahertz
• megajoule
• megalith, megalithic
• megalitre, megaliter
• megalomania, megalomaniac
• megalomanic
• megametre, megameter
• megamind
• meganewton
• megapack
• megaparsec
• megaphone
• megapixel
• megapode
• megapolis
• megarad
• megascope
• megasporangium
• megaspore, megasporic
• megasporophyll
• megastar
• megastore
• megastorm
• megastructure
• megatechnology
• megathere, megatherian, Megatherium
• megaton
• megavertebrate
• megavitamin
• megavolt
• megawatt
• mega-wide
• mega world
• megohm

Related terms

• mega (adjective)
• much
• almagest

Translations

very large, great

• Belarusian: мега- (mjeha-)
• Catalan: mega- (ca)
• Dutch: mega- (nl)
• Estonian: mega- (et)
• Finnish: mega- (fi), jätti-
• Galician: mega- (gl)
• Georgian: მეგა- (mega-)
• Greek: μεγα- (el) (mega-)
• Hebrew: מֶגָה (méga), מֶגָ־ (méga-)
• Indonesian: maha- (id)
• Italian: mega- (it)
• Japanese: 超 (ja) (chō), 巨大 (ja) (kyodai)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mega- (no)

  Nynorsk: mega-

• Portuguese: mega- (pt)
• Russian: ме́га- (ru) (méga-)
• Spanish: mega- (es)

multiplication factor one million

• Belarusian: мега- (mjeha-)
• Catalan: mega- (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 兆- (yue) (siu⁶)

  Mandarin: 兆- (zh) (zhào-) (mainland China), 百萬-／百万- (zh) (bǎiwàn-) (Taiwan)

• Czech: mega- (cs)
• Danish: mega-
• Dutch: mega- (nl)
• Estonian: mega- (et)
• Finnish: mega- (fi)
• French: méga- (fr)
• Galician: mega- (gl)
• Georgian: მეგა- (mega-)
• German: mega- (de)
• Greek: μεγα- (el) (mega-)
• Hebrew: מֶגָה (méga), מֶגָ־ (méga-)
• Hungarian: mega- (hu)
• Ido: mega-
• Indonesian: mega-
• Italian: mega- (it)
• Japanese: メガ (ja) (mega)
• Korean: 메가 (mega-)
• Latvian: mega-
• Malay: mega- (ms)
• Polish: mega- (pl)
• Portuguese: mega- (pt)
• Romanian: mega- (ro)
• Russian: ме́га- (ru) (méga-)
• Slovak: mega-
• Slovene: mega-
• Spanish: mega- (es)
• Swedish: mega- (sv)
• Thai: เมกะ- (mee-ga)
• Turkish: mega-

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Latin: ^{(please verify)} mega-

Anagrams

• game, mage

Czech

Etymology

Derived from Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Prefix

mega-

1. mega- (SI system)

Derived terms

Czech terms prefixed with mega-

Further reading

• “mega-”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
• “mega-”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• mega- in Slovník afixů užívaných v češtině, 2017

Danish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Prefix

mega-

1. mega- (SI system)
2. (informal) very
   • 2014, Thomas Halling, Mia & Marcus, Lindhardt og Ringhof, →ISBN:

     Mia var jo megasød.

     Mia was really sweet.

   • 2015, Kjell Eriksson, Natravnen, Klim, →ISBN:

     Netop derfor, sagde Wolf, – netop fordi det er så stort, så fandens megastort.

     Precisely for that reason, Wolf said, - precisely because it is so large, so damn huge.

Synonyms

• herre-
• super-

Derived terms

Danish terms prefixed with mega-

References

• “mega-” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”), from Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂s (“great”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeː.ɣaː/

• Audio:

  (file)

Prefix

mega-

1. mega-

Dutch terms prefixed with mega-

Finnish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeɡɑ-/, [ˈme̞ɡɑ̝-]

Prefix

mega-

1. mega-
2. (informal) super-, extremely

Derived terms

Finnish terms prefixed with mega-

Related terms

• kilo-
• giga-

Further reading

• “mega-”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

German

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Prefix

mega-

1. mega-

Derived terms

German terms prefixed with mega-

Further reading

• “mega-” in Duden online
• “mega-” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Hungarian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmɛɡɒ]
• Hyphenation: me‧ga

Prefix

mega-

1. mega- (in the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by one million (10⁶.))

Derived terms

Hungarian nouns prefixed with mega-

Icelandic

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Prefix

mega-

1. mega-

Derived terms

Icelandic terms prefixed with mega-

Indonesian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mɛɡa]
• Hyphenation: mè‧ga

Prefix

mèga-

1. mega-

Derived terms

Indonesian terms prefixed with mega-

Further reading

• “mega-” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Italian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmɛ.ɡa/
• Hyphenation: mè‧ga-

Prefix

mega-

1. mega- (all senses)

Derived terms

Italian terms prefixed with mega-

Further reading

• mega- in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Anagrams

• gema

Latvian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Prefix

mega-

1. mega-

Derived terms

Latvian terms prefixed with mega-

Further reading

• mega- at tezaurs.lv

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Prefix

mega-

1. mega-

Derived terms

Norwegian Bokmål terms prefixed with mega-

References

• “mega-” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “mega-” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas).

Prefix

mega-

1. mega-

Derived terms

Norwegian Nynorsk terms prefixed with mega-

References

• “mega-” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek μέγα- (méga-).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛ.ɡa/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɡa
• Syllabification: [please specify syllabification manually]
• Homophone: mega

Prefix

mega-

1. mega-

Derived terms

Polish terms prefixed with mega-

Further reading

• mega- in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Prefix

mega-

1. mega- (very large, great)
2. mega- (multiplication factor of one million)

Derived terms

Portuguese terms prefixed with mega-

Romanian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Noun

mega-

1. mega-

Derived terms

Romanian terms prefixed with mega-

Further reading

• mega in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Slovak

Etymology

Derived from Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Prefix

mega-

1. mega-

Derived terms

Slovak terms prefixed with mega-

Further reading

• “mega-”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2024

Slovene

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /méːɡa-/

Prefix

mẹ̑ga-

1. mega-

Derived terms

Slovene terms prefixed with mega-

Further reading

• “mega-”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2024

Spanish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Prefix

mega-

1. mega-

Derived terms

Spanish terms prefixed with mega-

Further reading

• “mega-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

Swedish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meːɡa/, /mɛɡa/

Prefix

mega-

1. mega-

Derived terms

Swedish terms prefixed with mega-

Further reading

• mega- in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• mage

Turkish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).

Prefix

mega-

1. mega-

Derived terms

Turkish terms prefixed with mega-

Further reading

• “megavat”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu