nano- [NA noh], nan-, nanno-, -nania

A unit of volume that is equal to one-billionth of a liter.

Having abnormally short limbs.

The study of how materials behave when their dimensions are reduced to a nanoscale.

It can also refer to the materials themselves which are used in nanotechnology.

Atomic and molecular-scale devices.

Such instruments can be constructed using a scanning tunneling microscope.

A single atom has been used as an electrical switch and an individual molecule has been used to convert alternating current into direct current.

1. A condition of having disproportionately short or small limbs; micromelia.
2. Achondroplasia: a birth deformity characterised by imperfect bone formation. It results in dwarfs with normal-sized heads but short arms and legs.

A unit of length which is equal to one-billionth (10^-9) of a meter.

A shrub, or plant, under two meters in height.

Nanophase metals, ceramics and other solids, are made of the same atoms as their more common forms, but the atoms are arranged in nanometer-size clusters, which become the constituent grains, or building blocks, of these new materials.

Whereas the grains in conventional materials range from microns to millimeters in diameter and contain several billion atoms, those in nanophase materials are less than 100 nanometers in diameter and contain fewer than tens of thousands of atoms.

A strong sexual attraction to short or small people.

1. A condition in which both eyes are abnormally small but otherwise normal.
2. Microphthalmos; developmental defect causing moderate or severe reduction in the size of an eye that is otherwise normal; a nanophthalmic eye is very hyperopic and prone to angle-closure glaucoma.