Metrication is the change a country makes when it stops using old everyday measures — inches, feet, pounds, pints — and starts using the metric system: metres, kilograms, litres. The system is metric; the process of moving over to it is metrication. Britain and many other places pushed this in the late twentieth century. The United States talked about it, but though actually everyday life there still uses miles and pounds. Taiwan already lives with 公制, so you will meet this word in history, science policy, or news about other countries, not when you buy fruit. It is a formal, official-sounding noun. People who hated the change used it with a groan; people who wanted one simple world system used it as a goal.

公制化。台灣早已用公制，此詞多用於談其他國家改用公尺、公斤、公升。