cm
Abbreviation with 12 meanings
| Stands for | Centimeter |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 12 |
| Categories | Units & Measurements, Medical, Government & Politics, Science & Engineering, Transportation & Travel, Sports, Geography & Places, Business & Finance, Military, Religion |
| Also written | CM, Cm, cM |
cm has 12 meanings. The most common are Centimeter (metric and SI unit) and Case management (hospital); it can also stand for Chief Minister, Centimorgan, Copa Airlines, Central midfielder and Cameroon, plus 5 more listed below.
Meanings of cm at a glance
| # | cm stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Centimeter | Units & Measurements › Metric and SI Unit |
| 2 | Case management | Medical › Hospital |
| 3 | Chief Minister | Government & Politics › World Government |
| 4 | Centimorgan | Science & Engineering › Genetics |
| 5 | Copa Airlines | Transportation & Travel › Airline Code |
| 6 | Central midfielder | Sports › Soccer (Association Football) |
| 7 | Cameroon | Geography & Places › Country Code |
| 8 | Contribution margin | Business & Finance › Accounting |
| 9 | Construction Mechanic | Military › US Navy and Coast Guard Rating |
| 10 | Certified Midwife | Medical › Healthcare Credential |
| 11 | Curium | Science & Engineering › Chemical Element |
| 12 | Congregation of the Mission | Religion › Religious Title |
1. Centimeter
Units & Measurements · Metric and SI Unit Abbreviations
One hundredth of a meter, about 0.394 inch, used for body height, clothing sizes, rulers, snowfall and small objects. One inch has been exactly 2.54 cm by international agreement since 1959.
Example: She is 168 cm tall, which is about 5 feet 6 inches.
Height in centimeters is standard on passports, driver's licenses and medical forms in most of the world. A cubic centimeter (cm³ or cc) equals one milliliter, which links length to volume in the metric system. School rulers are typically 30 cm long, roughly the length of a US 12-inch ruler.
2. Case management (CM)
Medical · Hospital Abbreviations
Hospital service, usually staffed by nurses and social workers, that coordinates discharge planning, insurance authorization, post-acute placement and utilization review.
Example: CM arranging SNF placement; insurance auth submitted.
Case managers often meet patients within 24 hours of admission to anticipate needs. Certifications include the CCM (Certified Case Manager). In midwifery CM means Certified Midwife.
3. Chief Minister (CM)
Government & Politics · World Government Abbreviations
Head of government of an Indian state or certain union territories, appointed by the state governor as the leader who commands a majority in the legislative assembly. The title is also used in Pakistan's provinces and Australia's Northern Territory.
Example: The CM announced compensation for families affected by the floods.
India's chief ministers wield substantial power over state policing, health, land and agriculture. Some states have had long-serving chief ministers who dominate regional politics for decades. Written lowercase, cm is the symbol for centimeter.
4. Centimorgan (cM)
Science & Engineering · Genetics Abbreviations
Unit of genetic distance: two positions are 1 cM apart if there is a 1% chance they will be separated by recombination in one generation. Consumer DNA testing companies use centimorgans to measure how much DNA relatives share, which estimates how closely they are related.
Example: We share 862 cM across 31 segments, consistent with a first cousin.
In humans 1 cM corresponds on average to roughly one million base pairs, though recombination rates vary along chromosomes and between sexes. The unit honors geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan; his student Alfred Sturtevant drew the first genetic map in 1913. A parent and child share roughly 3,500 cM, about half of the autosomal genome.
5. Copa Airlines (CM)
Transportation & Travel · Airline Code Abbreviations
Panamanian airline that connects the Americas through its "Hub of the Americas" at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City. It is a member of Star Alliance.
Example: Copa CM 433 from Panama to Havana connects with flights from more than 20 US cities.
ICAO code CMP; callsign "Copa." Founded in 1947 as Compañía Panameña de Aviación, the source of its name. Copa is consistently among the most punctual airlines in the world and is known for high profitability.
6. Central midfielder (CM)
Sports · Soccer (Association Football) Abbreviations
Midfielder who plays in the center of the pitch, linking defense and attack with passing, running and pressing. A "box-to-box" central midfielder contributes at both ends.
Example: Lineup: CM Bellingham, CM Valverde, CDM Tchouameni.
The traditional "number 8" is a central midfielder who covers ground and arrives in the box. Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard were celebrated English examples. Some formations use two central midfielders, others three.
7. Cameroon (CM)
Geography & Places · Country Code Abbreviations
Cameroon, often called Africa in miniature for its varied landscapes, has Yaoundé as its capital, English and French as official languages and CMR as its alpha-3 code.
Example: Typosquatters register .cm names because users who mistype .com land on Cameroon's domain.
Cameroon's .cm domain is one letter short of .com, which makes it popular with typosquatters. CM also means centimetre in lowercase.
8. Contribution margin (CM)
Business & Finance · Accounting Abbreviations
Revenue minus variable costs, either in total or per unit, showing how much each sale contributes to covering fixed costs and then to profit. It is central to cost-volume-profit and break-even analysis.
Example: Each subscription box has a CM of $12, so we need 25,000 boxes a month to cover $300,000 of fixed costs.
The contribution margin ratio, CM divided by revenue, shows the share of each sales dollar available for fixed costs. Products with a positive CM can be worth keeping even if they show a loss after allocated overheads. Delivery and e-commerce companies often report contribution margin per order as a key unit-economics metric.
9. Construction Mechanic (CM)
Military · US Navy and Coast Guard Rating Abbreviations
Seabee mechanics who maintain and repair the trucks, buses, tractors, generators and heavy construction equipment that keep a construction battalion moving, including diesel and gasoline engines, hydraulics and power trains.
Example: CM2 Ross rebuilt the grader's hydraulic pump with parts from the battalion's spares kit.
Construction mechanics work closely with equipment operators (EO), who drive the machines they maintain. Seabee units must be self-sufficient in remote areas, so CMs often improvise repairs far from supply depots. In measurement, cm is the abbreviation for centimeter.
10. Certified Midwife (CM)
Medical · Healthcare Credential Abbreviations
Midwife credential for people with a non-nursing background who complete the same graduate midwifery education and AMCB certification exam as nurse-midwives. Certified Midwives are authorized to practice in only a minority of US states.
Example: CM licensed in New York provides prenatal and gynecologic care.
The credential was created so that midwifery could be entered without first becoming a registered nurse. Advocates are working to expand licensure to more states. In hospitals CM more often means case management, so the context of a signature line matters.
11. Curium (Cm)
Science & Engineering · Chemical Element Abbreviations
Curium (atomic number 96) is an intensely radioactive synthetic metal. Curium-244 sources inside alpha particle X-ray spectrometers have analyzed rocks and soil on Mars, from the Sojourner rover in 1997 to Curiosity, by bombarding samples and reading the X-rays they emit.
Example: The rover's APXS uses Cm-244 sources to excite X-rays from rock surfaces.
Glenn Seaborg, Ralph James and Albert Ghiorso created curium in 1944 by bombarding plutonium-239 with alpha particles in a cyclotron. It honors Marie and Pierre Curie, by analogy with gadolinium above it, which honors Johan Gadolin. Curium accumulates in small amounts in spent nuclear fuel.
12. Congregation of the Mission (CM)
Religion · Religious Title Abbreviations
Abbreviation used by the Vincentians, also called Lazarists, a congregation of priests and brothers founded in Paris in 1625 by St. Vincent de Paul to preach to the rural poor and train clergy. In the US they sponsor DePaul University and St. John's University.
Example: Priests of the CM have led DePaul University since its founding in 1898.
The name Lazarists comes from their early headquarters, the priory of Saint-Lazare in Paris. Vincent de Paul also co-founded the Daughters of Charity. CM can also mean many other things, from centimeter (written cm) to court-martial.
Related abbreviations
More metric and SI unit abbreviations
- cc – Cubic centimeter
- cd – Candela
- CGS – Centimeter-gram-second system
- cL – Centiliter
- ct – Carat
- d – Deci- (tenth)
- Da – Dalton
- dL – Deciliter
See all 64 metric and SI unit abbreviations →
More hospital abbreviations
- CCU – Critical care unit
- CDU – Clinical decision unit
- CHC – Community health center
- CLABSI – Central line-associated bloodstream infection
- CMO – Chief medical officer
- CN – Charge nurse
- CNO – Chief nursing officer
- CTICU – Cardiothoracic intensive care unit
See all 89 hospital abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.