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Ten Things You Maybe Didn't Know About Centimetres
1. It’s 1/100th of a metre
Yeah, it’s that simple. The "centi-" prefix literally means one hundredth. So 100 centimetres = 1 metre. It's tidy, metric, and beautifully logical.
2. Totally not used in the U.S.
Americans mostly skip centimetres entirely. They jump from inches to feet and sometimes metres if they're feeling international. Centimetres? Basically ignored.
3. Ideal for human-scale stuff
If you're measuring your phone, a book, or the size of a scratch on your car — centimetres hit that sweet spot. Not too big, not too tiny.
4. Common in everyday speech (if you're not American)
Most of the world casually drops centimetres when describing height. “I’m 180 centimetres tall” sounds totally normal... if you’re in Europe or Australia.
5. Used in science and medicine
In many fields, centimetres are used when millimetres are too small and metres are too large. For example, tumour sizes, rainfall measurements, and fish lengths often land in the centimetre zone.
6. The ‘cm’ is universally recognized
Even if someone doesn’t use centimetres daily, everyone pretty much knows what “cm” means on a ruler or product label. It's globally understood shorthand.
7. It's part of the SI system — sort of
While the metre is the SI base unit, the centimetre is officially a derived unit. It’s accepted for use with SI, but technically not one of the primary units.
8. It helps bridge the micro and the macro
Think of it as a cozy middle child between the precision of millimetres and the large-scale practicality of metres or kilometres.
9. Centimetres make tailoring make sense
Ask any tailor or fashion designer. When it comes to cutting cloth or checking measurements, centimetres are the go-to. Way more precise than inches.
10. They show up in weird places — like screen sizes
Ever seen a monitor or TV screen spec list with “diagonal: 68.6 cm”? That’s just the metric version of a 27-inch display. They sneak centimetres in there, even in tech specs.