Meaning

noun a function of a topological space that gives, for any two points in the space, a value equal to the distance between them

noun a decimal unit of measurement of the metric system (based on meters and kilograms and seconds)

noun a system of related measures that facilitates the quantification of some particular characteristic

originFrom French métrique (1864), from New Latin metricus (“pertaining to the system based on the meter”), from metrum (“a meter”); see meter. By surface analysis, metre + -ic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0