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The
avoirdupois (; French ) system is a system of Units of measurement (or, properly, mass) based on a
pound (mass) of sixteen ounces. It is the everyday system of weight used in the United States. It is still widely used by many people in Canada and the
United Kingdom despite the official metrication of the metric system, including the compulsory introduction of metric units in shops. It is considered more modern than the alternative
troy weight or Apothecaries' system of mass or the medieval English mercantile and Tower systems.
History of the term
The word
avoirdupois is from French and Middle English (Anglo-French)
avoir de pois, "goods of weight" or "goods sold by weight", and from Old French
aveir de peis, literally "goods of weight", from aveir, "property, goods" (from aveir, "to have", from Latin habere, "to have, to hold, to possess property") + de, "from" (from the Latin) + peis, "weight", from Latin pensum, "weight". This term originally referred to a class of merchandise: aveir de peis, "goods of weight", things that were sold in bulk and were weighed on large steelyards or balances. Only later did it become identified with a particular system of units used to weigh such merchandise. The imaginative orthography of the day and the passage of the term through a series of languages (Latin, Anglo-French and English) has left many variants of the term, such as
haberty-poie and
haber de peyse. (The Norman "peis" became the Parisian "pois". In the 1600s "de" was replaced with "du".)
Original forms
These are the units in their original
French language forms:
{| class="wikitable"! colspan="6"|Table of mass units|-! Unit! Relative
value! Notes|-|align=center|
dram (unit) or
drachm]|align=right| 1/16|align=right| 1/16 livre|-|align=center|
pound (mass)#French livre or pound|align=right| 1|align=right||-|align=center|
quarter|align=right| 25|align=right||-|align=center|
hundredweight|align=right| 100|align=right| plural:
quintaux|-|align=center|
tonne|align=right| 2000|align=right||}
British adaptation
When people in Ireland and United Kingdom began to use this system they included the Stone (weight), which was eventually defined as fourteen avoirdupois pounds. The quarter, hundredweight, and ton were altered, respectively, to 28 lb, 112 lb, and 2240 lb in order for masses to be easily converted between them and stone.The following are the units in the
English unit or
Imperial unit adaptation of the avoirdupois system:
{| class="wikitable"! colspan="6"|Table of mass units|-! Unit! Relative
value! Metric
value! Notes|-|align=center|
dram or
drachm|align=right| 1/256|align=left| ~1.772 g|align=right| 1/16 oz|-|align=center|
ounce (oz)|align=right| 1/16|align=left| ~28.35 g|align=right| 1/16 lb|-|align=center|
pound (lb)|align=right| 1|align=left| ~453.6 g|align=right||-|align=center|
stone (st)|align=right| 14|align=left| ~6.35 kg|align=right| 14 lb. The plural form is conventionally written the same as the singular, 'stone'.|-|align=center|
quarter (qtr)|align=right| 28|align=left| ~12.7 kg|align=right| 2 st. Sometimes called the 'long quarter' to distinguish it from the U.S. unit.|-|align=center|
hundredweight (cwt)|align=right| 112|align=left| ~50.8 kg|align=right| 4 qtr. Sometimes called the 'long hundredweight' to distinguish it from the short ton.|-|align=center|
ton (t)|align=right| 2240|align=left| ~1016 kg|align=right| 20 cwt. Sometimes called the 'long ton' to distinguish it from the short ton.|}
American customary system
The 13 colonies in
North America, however, adopted the French system as it was. In the U.S., quarters, hundredweights, and tons remain defined as 25, 100, and 2000 lb (though the quarter is virtually unused, as is the hundredweight outside of agriculture and commodities); if disambiguation is required then tons are referred to as the "short" units, as opposed to the British "long" units.
{| class="wikitable"! colspan="6"|Table of mass units|-! Unit! Relative
value! Metric
value! Notes|-|align=center|
dram (dr)|align=right| 1/256|align=left| ~1.772 g|align=right| 1/16 oz|-|align=center|
ounce (oz)|align=right| 1/16|align=left| ~28.35 g|align=right| 1/16 lb|-|align=center|
pound (lb)|align=right| 1|align=left| ~453.6 g|align=right||-|align=center|
quarter (qtr)|align=right| 25|align=left| ~11.34 kg|align=right| 25 lb. Not used to any significant extent.|-|align=center|
hundredweight (cwt)|align=right| 100|align=left| ~45.36 kg|align=right| 4 qtr. Sometimes called the 'short hundredweight' to distinguish it from the long hundredweight.|-|align=center|
ton (t)|align=right| 2000|align=left| ~907.2 kg|align=right| 20 cwt. Sometimes called the 'short ton' to distinguish it from the long ton.|}
Internationalization
In the avoirdupois system, all units are multiples or fractions of the
pound (mass)#Pound .28avoirdupois.29 or international pound, which is now defined as 0.45359237 kilogram in most of the English-speaking world since 1959. (See the
Mendenhall Order for references)
Further, these weights were considered units of force, not mass. Hence in planetariums one amusement for the audience was a series of scales to show how one's weight would be different on planets with different surface gravity. The use of the metric units as primary has brought about the pronouncement that the avoirdupois units are now masses as well.
See also
References
The
avoirdupois (; French ) system is a system of
Units of measurement (or, properly,
mass) based on a pound (mass) of sixteen ounces. It is the everyday system of weight used in the
United States. It is still widely used by many people in
Canada and the
United Kingdom despite the official metrication of the metric system, including the compulsory introduction of metric units in shops. It is considered more modern than the alternative
troy weight or
Apothecaries' system of mass or the medieval English mercantile and Tower systems.
History of the term
The word
avoirdupois is from French and Middle English (Anglo-French)
avoir de pois, "goods of weight" or "goods sold by weight", and from Old French
aveir de peis, literally "goods of weight", from aveir, "property, goods" (from aveir, "to have", from Latin habere, "to have, to hold, to possess property") + de, "from" (from the Latin) + peis, "weight", from Latin pensum, "weight". This term originally referred to a class of merchandise: aveir de peis, "goods of weight", things that were sold in bulk and were weighed on large steelyards or balances. Only later did it become identified with a particular system of units used to weigh such merchandise. The imaginative orthography of the day and the passage of the term through a series of languages (Latin, Anglo-French and English) has left many variants of the term, such as
haberty-poie and
haber de peyse. (The Norman "peis" became the Parisian "pois". In the 1600s "de" was replaced with "du".)
Original forms
These are the units in their original
French language forms:
{| class="wikitable"! colspan="6"|Table of mass units|-! Unit! Relative
value! Notes|-|align=center|
dram (unit) or
drachm]|align=right| 1/16|align=right| 1/16 livre|-|align=center|
pound (mass)#French livre or pound|align=right| 1|align=right||-|align=center|
quarter|align=right| 25|align=right||-|align=center|
hundredweight|align=right| 100|align=right| plural:
quintaux|-|align=center|
tonne|align=right| 2000|align=right||}
British adaptation
When people in Ireland and
United Kingdom began to use this system they included the
Stone (weight), which was eventually defined as fourteen avoirdupois pounds. The quarter, hundredweight, and ton were altered, respectively, to 28 lb, 112 lb, and 2240 lb in order for
masses to be easily converted between them and stone.The following are the units in the
English unit or Imperial unit adaptation of the avoirdupois system:
{| class="wikitable"! colspan="6"|Table of mass units|-! Unit! Relative
value! Metric
value! Notes|-|align=center|
dram or
drachm|align=right| 1/256|align=left| ~1.772 g|align=right| 1/16 oz|-|align=center|
ounce (oz)|align=right| 1/16|align=left| ~28.35 g|align=right| 1/16 lb|-|align=center|
pound (lb)|align=right| 1|align=left| ~453.6 g|align=right||-|align=center|
stone (st)|align=right| 14|align=left| ~6.35 kg|align=right| 14 lb. The plural form is conventionally written the same as the singular, 'stone'.|-|align=center|
quarter (qtr)|align=right| 28|align=left| ~12.7 kg|align=right| 2 st. Sometimes called the 'long quarter' to distinguish it from the U.S. unit.|-|align=center|
hundredweight (cwt)|align=right| 112|align=left| ~50.8 kg|align=right| 4 qtr. Sometimes called the 'long hundredweight' to distinguish it from the short ton.|-|align=center|
ton (t)|align=right| 2240|align=left| ~1016 kg|align=right| 20 cwt. Sometimes called the 'long ton' to distinguish it from the short ton.|}
American customary system
The 13 colonies in
North America, however, adopted the French system as it was. In the U.S., quarters, hundredweights, and tons remain defined as 25, 100, and 2000 lb (though the quarter is virtually unused, as is the hundredweight outside of agriculture and commodities); if disambiguation is required then tons are referred to as the "short" units, as opposed to the British "long" units.
{| class="wikitable"! colspan="6"|Table of mass units|-! Unit! Relative
value! Metric
value! Notes|-|align=center|
dram (dr)|align=right| 1/256|align=left| ~1.772 g|align=right| 1/16 oz|-|align=center|
ounce (oz)|align=right| 1/16|align=left| ~28.35 g|align=right| 1/16 lb|-|align=center|
pound (lb)|align=right| 1|align=left| ~453.6 g|align=right||-|align=center|
quarter (qtr)|align=right| 25|align=left| ~11.34 kg|align=right| 25 lb. Not used to any significant extent.|-|align=center|
hundredweight (cwt)|align=right| 100|align=left| ~45.36 kg|align=right| 4 qtr. Sometimes called the 'short hundredweight' to distinguish it from the long hundredweight.|-|align=center|
ton (t)|align=right| 2000|align=left| ~907.2 kg|align=right| 20 cwt. Sometimes called the 'short ton' to distinguish it from the long ton.|}
Internationalization
In the avoirdupois system, all units are multiples or fractions of the pound (mass)#Pound .28avoirdupois.29 or international pound, which is now defined as 0.45359237 kilogram in most of the English-speaking world since 1959. (See the
Mendenhall Order for references)
Further, these weights were considered units of force, not mass. Hence in planetariums one amusement for the audience was a series of scales to show how one's weight would be different on planets with different surface gravity. The use of the metric units as primary has brought about the pronouncement that the avoirdupois units are now masses as well.
See also
References
Avoirdupois - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The avoirdupois (IPA: /ˌævərdəˈpɔɪz/; French IPA: [avwaʀdypwɑ]) system is a system of weights (or, properly, mass) based on a pound of sixteen ounces.
Definition: avoirdupois from Online Medical Dictionary
The Online Medical Dictionary is a searchable dictionary of definitions from medicine, science and technology.
AskOxford: avoirdupois
avoirdupois / avv rd poyz/ • noun a system of weights based on a pound of 16 ounces or 7,000 grains. Compare with TROY. — ORIGIN from Old French aveir de peis ‘goods of ...
avoirdupois - definition of avoirdupois by the Free Online Dictionary ...
av·oir·du·pois (v r-d-poiz) n. 1. Abbr. av. or avdp. Avoirdupois weight. 2. Informal Weight or heaviness, especially of a person. [Middle English avoir de pois, commodities ...
PhotoNotes.org Dictionary - Avoirdupois
The PhotoNotes.org Dictionary of Film and Digital Photography. An extensive dictionary or glossary of photography terminology.
avoirdupois weight - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about avoirdupois ...
weight. Gravitational force exerted on an object by another object. The weight of an object depends on its mass - the amount of material in it - and the strength of the local ...
avoirdupois - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about avoirdupois
Janet is a dear soul and very nicelooking; tall, but not over-tall; stoutish, yet with a certain restraint of outline suggestive of a thrifty soul who is not going to be overlavish ...
avoirdupois - Wiktionary
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
Avoirdupois - LoveToKnow 1911
AVOIRDUPOIS, or Averdupois (from the French avoir de pois, goods of weight), the name of a system of weights used in Great Britain and America for all commodities except the ...
avoirdupois definition |Dictionary.com
noun . 1. avoirdupois weight. 2. Informal. bodily weight: He carries around a lot of excess ... Origin: 1250–1300; ME avoir de pois lit., property of weight OF, equiv. to avoir ...
