pound

English

/paʊnd/

noun
Definitions
  • A unit of mass equal to 16 avoirdupois ounces (= 453.592 37 g). Today this value is the most common meaning of "pound" as a unit of weight.
  • A unit of mass equal to 12 troy troy ounces (≈ 373.242 g). Today, this is a common unit of weight when measuring precious metals, and is little used elsewhere.
  • (US) The symbol (octothorpe, hash)
  • The unit of currency used in the United Kingdom and its dependencies. It is divided into 100 pence.
  • Any of various units of currency used in Egypt and Lebanon, and formerly in the Republic of Ireland, Cyprus and Israel.
  • Any of various units of currency formerly used in the United States.
  • Abbreviation for pound-force, a unit of force/weight. Using this abbreviation to describe pound-force is inaccurate and unscientific.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English pound inherited from Old English pund (weight, a pound, an enclosure) inherited from Proto-Germanic *pundą (weight, pound) derived from Latin pondō (by weight) derived from Proto-Indo-European *pend-, *(s)pend- (pull, spin, stretch).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*(s)pend-

Gloss

pull, spin, stretch

Concept
Semantic Field

Basic actions and technology

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Emoji

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms