nano- pref.
[SI: the next quantifier below micro-; meaning * 10^(-9)] Smaller than micro-, and used in the same rather loose
and connotative way. Thus, one has nanotechnology (coined by hacker K.
Eric Drexler) by analogy with `microtechnology'; and a few
machine architectures have a `nanocode' level below `microcode'.
Tom Duff at Bell Labs has also pointed out that "Pi seconds is a
nanocentury". See also quantifiers, pico-, nanoacre,
nanobot, nanocomputer, nanofortnight.
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nanoacre /nan'oh-ay`kr/ n.
A unit (about 2 mm square) of real estate on a VLSI chip. The
term gets its giggle value from the fact that VLSI nanoacres have
costs in the same range as real acres once one figures in design
and fabrication-setup costs.