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Comment by stavros | Hacker News Reader

I've never seen the "hecto-" prefix before, but I immediately have an undying hatred for it. "Hecto-" means "a sixth of", "hecato-" means "a hundredth of". Sucks that people chose the wrong spelling because they didn't realize it changes the meaning so much.

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It is sometimes used in grocery stores in Norway when you need to ask for a quantity of something that is not pre-packed.

"I'd like 2 hecto ham" means 2 hectograms (200g, or 0.2kg)

It may sound strange if you are not used to it. I also have a feeling that the younger generations prefer just measuring in grams when it is less than a kg. Let's blame the school system ;-)

We also sometimes measure area as "dekar" (1000 sq m) and "hektar" (10000 sq m)

It's surprisingly (well) similar in italian, where "etto" is 100 g and "ettaro" is 10000 m².

The dictionary says that "hecto" is hundreth "from French hecto-, from Ancient Greek ἑκατόν (hekatón, “hundred”)." It was sometimes spelled "hecato" in 19th century.

In English, "hexa" is the prefix for sixth from the Greek "hex".

Certainly; I'm merely suggesting English is wrong.

The hecto- prefix isn't commonly used for durations, but it's often used for barometric pressures as in hPa (Hectopascal), or areas such as ha (Hectare), at least in Europe. And it is an official SI prefix.

This is all true, but I still hate it for being wrong :/

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