The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
hertz
(hûrts) (KEY) [for Heinrich R. Hertz], abbr. Hz, unit of frequency, equal to 1 cycle per second. The term is combined with metric prefixes to denote multiple units such as the kilohertz (1,000 Hz), megahertz (1,000,000 Hz), and gigahertz (1,000,000,000 Hz).