The prefix "tera-" is a metric prefix in the International System of Units (SI) that denotes a factor of 10^12 or 1,000,000,000,000. It is commonly used in scientific and technical contexts to express large quantities, such as in measurements of data storage, where 1 terabyte (TB) equals 10^12 bytes. In addition to data storage, "tera-" is also used in fields like physics and engineering. For example, a terawatt (TW) represents 10^12 watts of power. This prefix helps simplify communication about vast numbers, making it easier to understand and compare large-scale measurements in various disciplines.