厘米
lí mǐ · HSK 4
centimeter
📏 厘米 = lí (hundredth) + mǐ (meter); a centimeter is 1/100 of a meter
厘 is an old Chinese fractional unit meaning one-hundredth, and 米 is the loanword for meter (also means rice). Together they form the metric unit centimeter — literally a hundredth-meter.
米 — pictograph of rice grains separated by a thresher
米 is a pictograph showing grains of rice scattered around a central horizontal line, originally depicting kernels separated from the husk on a threshing surface. In oracle bone script the dots clearly represent individual grains. The meaning has stayed remarkably stable, referring to husked, uncooked rice and by extension other small grains.