The foot is a unit of length in the imperial unit system and uses the symbol ft.
One foot is exactly equal to 12 inches. It is also exactly equal to 0.3048m. One yard is comprised of three feet.
The foot is just behind the metre in terms of widespread use due to its previous popularity. The US is the only developed country that still uses the foot in preference to the metre.
The UK still uses feet to express human height more than metres.
The fathom is a unit of length in the imperial unit system and uses the symbol ftm.
One fathom is equal to 6 feet or 1.8288m.
The phrase fathom derives from an old English derivative of a Viking / Danish word "favn" meaning emracing a pair of arms or a pair of oustretched hands.
The fathom is mostly used in the nautical world to describe depths of water.