milligram
Pluralmilligrams
- 1A metric unit of mass equal to one thousandth of a gram (symbol mg).
A single grain of table salt weighs roughly a milligram.
The lab reported that the sample weighed just under a milligram.
Each tablet delivers 200 milligrams of the medication.
Note
Borrowed from French milligramme, it is built the way the metric ladder is built: milli- plus gram. One rung down sits the microgram, a thousand times smaller. One rung up is the gram, and a million milligrams make a kilogram. It is the working unit of doses and safety limits. The US Food and Drug Administration's ceiling of 400 milligrams of caffeine a day for healthy adults is a typical case.
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Origin
Borrowed from French milligramme, formed from milli- plus gram.