from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

  • n. A Greek unit of cord measurement, equivalent to one hundred podes.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • n. A long measure of 100 Greek, or 101 English, feet; also, a square measure of 10,000 Greek feet.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  • n. In ancient Greece, a fundamental land-measure, being the square of 100 feet, or 10,000 square feet.


Sorry, no etymologies found.




  • That is really strange, I would have assume that plethora and plethron came from the same source, but apparently they were just similar sounding Greek words.

    November 8, 2007

  • An ancient Greek unit of distance equal to 100 Greek feet or 1/6 stadion (the traditional length of an athletic field). The Greek foot was slightly longer than the English foot, so the plethron was approximately 100 to 105 English feet (31 to 33 meters).

    Plural is "plethra," but the word does not seem to be related to the root for plethora, according to the OED.

    November 8, 2007