For the next 204 years, the scientific and thermometry communities worldwide called this scale the "centigrade scale". Temperatures on the centigrade scale were often reported as "degrees" or "degrees centigrade". The symbol for temperature values on this scale was °C (in several formats over the years). Because the name "centigrade" was also the Spanish and French language name for a unit of angular measurement (one-hundredth of a right angle) and had a similar meaning in other languages, the term "centesimal degree" was used when very precise, clear language was required for international communication, such as by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). The 9th CGPM (General Conference on Weights and Measures) and the CIPM (International Committee for Weights and Measures) officially decided to use "degree Celsius" (symbol: °C) in 1948.