Femto- (symbol f) is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10−15 or 0.000000000000001. Adopted by the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures, it was added in 1964 to the SI. It is derived from the Danish word femten, meaning "fifteen".
Examples of use:
The femtometre shares the unit symbol (fm) with the older non-SI unit fermi, to which it is equivalent. The fermi, named in honour of Enrico Fermi, is often encountered in nuclear physics.