Final answer:
The prefix derived from the Greek word for earth is 'geo-,' which is used extensively in scientific terminology, including in various disciplines that study the Earth.
Step-by-step explanation:
The prefix derived from the Greek word for earth is geo. The usage of Greek and Latin in science and academia is prevalent due to their historic role as languages of the educated class. Those ancient languages provide foundations for many words used today in various fields like science, law, and philosophy. In particular, many metric prefixes that we use to denote different sizes of measurements in the SI system, such as kilo-, centi-, and mega, are derived from Greek or Latin.
In the context of the earth and sciences related to it, geo- is commonly used. For instance, 'geology' is made up of 'geo-' meaning earth and '-logy' meaning the study of, together referring to the study of the Earth's physical structure and substance.