from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
oligomer \o*lig"o*mer\, n. (Chem.)
A molecule composed of a small number of linked monomer
units; a short polymer; -- compounds called oligomers have
less than one hundred monomer units and usually less than
thirty. Oligomers of increasing length are called {dimer},
{trimer}, {tetramer}, {pentamer}, {hexamer}, {heptamer},
{octamer}, {nonamer}, {decamer}, etc. In colloquial
laboratory jargon, they may also be referred to as
{nine-mer}, {ten-mer}, {eleven-mer}, {twelve-mer}, etc.,
especially for oligomers of greater than eight units.
[PJC]