English

gigabase

From giga- + base.

A compound of giga- + base

Ancient Greek γίγας ‘giant’

English giga-

Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- ‘to come’

…

Ancient Greek βᾰ́σῐς ‘stepping’

Latin basis ‘a pedestal’

Old French base

Middle English base ‘a foundation or base’

English base

Today it means

noun One billion bases (nucleotides) as a unit of length of a nucleic acid

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / gigabase