SI base unit units are written in lowercase, except the symbols of those named after a person, which are written with an initial capital letter. For example, the "metre" (US English: "meter") has the symbol m, but the "kelvin" has symbol K, because it is named after Lord Kelvin and the "ampere" with symbol A is named after André-Marie Ampère. Several other units, such as the litre (US English: "liter"), are formally not part of the SI, but are accepted for use with SI. New definitions of the base units were approved on 16 November 2018, to take effect 20 May 2019. The
Unit of length Unit of length A unit of length refers to any discrete, pre-established length or distance having a constant magnitude which is used as a reference or convention to express linear dimension. The most common units in modern use are U.S. customary units in the United States and metric units elsewhere. British Imperial units are still used for some purposes in the United Kingdom and some other countries. The metric system is sub-divided into SI and non-SI units. The base unit in the International System of Units (SI) is the metre, defined as "the length of the path travelled by light