Abbreviation for 'miles per hour', a unit of speed measurement. Commonly used to express vehicle speeds or wind velocities.
Modern abbreviation combining 'miles' from Latin 'milia' (thousands of paces) and 'hour' from Greek 'hora' (time period). The standardized abbreviation emerged with automobile culture in the early 20th century.
The mile was originally defined as 1,000 Roman paces (milia passuum), where each pace was two steps. Today's mile is actually 5,280 feet because it was standardized to equal eight furlongs, an old English agricultural measurement.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.