noun

el metro

metro · subway · meter

Es un tren que viaja bajo tierra o en la ciudad y transporta a muchas personas de un lugar a otro rápidamente.

Definition & meaning

The word metro in Spanish has three primary meanings depending on the context:

Unit of length: It is the fundamental unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). One meter is equivalent to 100 centimeters or approximately 3.28 feet.
Transportation: It refers to an underground electric railway system, commonly known in English as the subway, the underground, or the tube. This is a shortened form of the word metropolitano.
Measuring tool: It can refer to the physical instrument used for measuring length, such as a folding ruler or a retractable measuring tape.

Grammar & Word origin

The word is a masculine noun (el metro). Its plural form is los metros.

Regarding its origin, the word has two distinct paths depending on the meaning:

As a unit of measurement, it comes from the Greek word metron, which means "measure." This root is also found in related words like centímetro and kilómetro.
As a transport system, it is an abbreviation of the adjective metropolitano, which derives from the Greek metropolis (meter meaning mother and polis meaning city).

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms for the transport system:

subterráneo (often used in Argentina)
subte (common abbreviation in Argentina)
tren (in a general sense)
ferrocarril metropolitano[?](vocabuo://word/ferrocarril metropolitano)

Synonyms for the measuring tool:

cinta métrica[?](vocabuo://word/cinta métrica)
regla
flexómetro

Antonyms: There are no direct antonyms for a unit of measurement or a transport system. However, in the context of transport, one might contrast it with: