In the metric system, all units have a "symbol". Symbols are a shorthand way of writing the names of units. All the countries in the world use the same symbol for a unit, even though they might have different ways of writing out the unit name in full. For example
ɪ n ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY m ɛ t ɹ ɪ k WORD_BOUNDARY s ɪ s t ə m WORD_BOUNDARY ɔ l WORD_BOUNDARY j uː n ɪ t s WORD_BOUNDARY h æ v WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ WORD_BOUNDARY s ɪ m b ə l WORD_BOUNDARY s ɪ m b ə l z WORD_BOUNDARY ɑ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ WORD_BOUNDARY ʃ ɔ ɹ t h æ n d WORD_BOUNDARY w eɪ WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY ɹ aɪ t ɪ ŋ WORD_BOUNDARY ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY n eɪ m z WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY j uː n ɪ t s WORD_BOUNDARY ɔ l WORD_BOUNDARY ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY k ʌ n t ɹ i z WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ n ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY w ɜː l d WORD_BOUNDARY j uː s WORD_BOUNDARY ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY s eɪ m WORD_BOUNDARY s ɪ m b ə l WORD_BOUNDARY f ə ɹ ɹ ə WORD_BOUNDARY j uː n ɪ t WORD_BOUNDARY iː v ə n WORD_BOUNDARY ð oʊ WORD_BOUNDARY ð eɪ WORD_BOUNDARY m aɪ t h ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY d ɪ f ɹ ə n t WORD_BOUNDARY w eɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY ɹ aɪ t ɪ ŋ WORD_BOUNDARY aʊ t WORD_BOUNDARY ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY j uː n ɪ t WORD_BOUNDARY n eɪ m WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ n WORD_BOUNDARY f ʊ l WORD_BOUNDARY f ɔ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY ɛ ɡ z æ m p ə l WORD_BOUNDARY