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Avoirdupois
Avoirdupois
Avoirdupois
Avoirdupois
The avoirdupois (pronounced /vrdpz/; French pronunciation:[avwadypw]) system is a system of weights (or,
properly, mass) based on a pound of sixteen ounces. It is the everyday system of weight used in the United States,
and is still widely used to varying degrees by many people in Canada, the United Kingdom, and some other former
British colonies despite the official adoption of the metric system. An alternate system of mass is generally used for
precious materials, Troy weight.
Original forms
These are the units in their original French forms:
Relative
value
dram or drachm
once
livre
quintal
tonne
256
Notes
16 once
16
1
100
2,000 20 quintaux
Avoirdupois
British adaptation
When people in the United Kingdom began to use this system they included the stone, which was eventually defined
as fourteen avoirdupois pounds. The quarter, hundredweight, and ton were altered, respectively, to 28lb, 112lb, and
2,240lb in order for masses to be easily converted between them and stones. The following are the units in the
British or imperial adaptation of the avoirdupois system:
Relative
value
dram or drachm
Metric
value
256 1.772g
ounce (oz)
Notes
16 oz
16 28.35g
16 dr
pound (lb)
1 453.6g
16 oz
stone (st)
14 6.350kg
quarter (qtr)
28 12.70kg
2 st
hundredweight (cwt)
112 50.80kg
4 qtr
2,240 1016kg
20 cwt
ton (t)
or
long ton (l. tn.)
2 qtr
Note: The plural form of the unit stone is either stone or stones, but stone is most frequently used.
grain (gr)
dram (dr)
ounce (oz)
Relative
value
Metric
value
7000 64.80mg
256 1.772g
Notes
7000lb
1
16 oz
16 28.35g
16 dr
pound (lb)
1 453.6g
16 oz
quarter (qtr)
25 11.34kg
25lb
hundredweight (cwt)
100 45.36kg
4 qtr
Avoirdupois
3
ton (t)
or
short ton (sh. tn.)
2,000 907.2kg
20 cwt
Internationalization
In the avoirdupois system, all units are multiples or fractions of the pound, which is now defined as 0.45359237kg
in most of the English-speaking world since 1959. (See the Mendenhall Order for references.)
Due to the ambiguous meanings of "weight" as referring to both mass and force, it is sometimes erroneously asserted
that the pound is only a unit of force. However, as defined above the pound is a unit of mass, which agrees with
common usage. Also see pound-force and pound-mass.
License
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