Why is “Pound” Abbreviated as “lb”? | Mental Floss

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Why is “Pound” Abbreviated as “lb”? ... Most of our abbreviations for units of ... Mostofourabbreviationsforunitsofmeasurementareprettystraightforward.Theyaremadeup oflettersfromthewordstheystandfor.Sohowdowegetlbfor“pound”andozfor“ounce”?LbisanabbreviationoftheLatinwordlibra.Theprimarymeaningoflibrawasbalanceorscales(asintheastrologicalsign),butitalsostoodfortheancientRomanunitofmeasurelibrapondo,meaning“apoundbyweight.”Wegottheword“pound”inEnglishfromthepondopartofthelibrapondobutourabbreviationcomesfromthelibra.ThelibraisalsowhythesymbolfortheBritishpoundis£—anLwithalinethroughit.TheItalianliraalsousedthatsymbol(withtwolinesthroughit),theword“lira”itselfbeingashortenedversionoflibra.“Ounce”isrelatedtotheLatinuncia,thenameforboththeRomanounceandinchunitsofmeasurement.ThewordcameintoEnglishfromAnglo-NormanFrench,whereitwasunceorounce,buttheabbreviationwasborrowedfromMedievalItalian,wherethewordwasonza.ThesedaystheItalianwordisoncia,andtheareaoncecoveredbytheRomanEmpirehaslongsinceswitchedtothemetricsystem.



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