mega-

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

mega-

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

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.

• enPR: mĕgʹə, IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɡə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• also IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪɡə/

SI prefix

M	Previous:	kilo-
	Next:	giga-

mega-

1. (originally) Very large, great.
3. In the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by one million (10⁶).

   Alternative form: M- (symbol)

   Near-synonyms: million, M

4. (computing) Multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 2²⁰ (= 1,048,576, the binary number closest to a million). Computing symbol: Mi.
5. (computing, marketing) Multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 2¹⁰ × 10³ (= 1,024,000, the binary round number closest to a million).
6. (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.

• 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.

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

• micro-

• mega (adjective)
• much
• almagest

• game, mage

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

• IPA^(key): [mɛɡa ]

mega-

1. mega- (SI system)

• “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

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

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.

• herre-
• super-

• “mega-” in Den Danske Ordbog

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeː.ɣaː/

• Audio:

  (file)

mega-

1. mega-

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeɡɑ-/, [ˈme̞ɡɑ̝-]

mega-

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

• kilo-
• giga-

• “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 3 July 2023

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

• IPA^(key): /meɡa/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

mega-

1. mega-

• “mega-” in Duden online
• “mega-”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large, mighty”).^[1]

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

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.))

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

mega-

1. mega-

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

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /mɛɡa/ [mɛ.ɡa]
• Syllabification: me‧ga-

mèga-

1. mega-

• “mega-”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

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

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

mega-

1. mega- (all senses)

• mega- in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

• gema

mega-

1. Rōmaji transcription of メガ

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

mega-

1. mega-

• mega- at tezaurs.lv

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

mega-

1. mega-

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

From Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas).

mega-

1. mega-

• “mega-” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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

• IPA^(key): /mɛ.ɡa/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɡa
• Syllabification: me‧ga-
• Homophone: mega

mega-

1. mega-

• “mega-”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)

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

mega-

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

• “mega-”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “mega-”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

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

mega-

1. mega-

• “mega”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

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

mega-

1. mega-

• “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, 2003–2026

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

• IPA^(key): /méːɡa-/

mẹ̑ga-

1. mega-

• “mega-”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2026

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

mega-

1. mega- (big, large)
2. mega- (SI prefix multiplying the unit by 10⁶)
3. (computing) mebi- (IEC prefix multiplying the unit by 2²⁰)

• “mega-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

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

• IPA^(key): /meːɡa/, /mɛɡa/

mega-

1. mega-

• “mega-”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

• mage

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

mega-

1. mega-

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