Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.
| abamp abampere | a unit equivalent to 10 AMPERES. |
| abcoulomb | the cgs unit of electric charge in the electromagnetic system, equivalent to 10 COULOMBS. |
| abfarad | a unit of capacitance, the ability to store an electric charge. |
| abhenry | a unit of inductance, the property of inducing an electromotive force by variation of current in a circuit > ABHENRYS or ABHENRIES. |
| abmho | a unit of electrical conductance. |
| abohm | a unit of electrical resistance. |
| abvolt | a unit of electrical potential equal to one hundred millionth of a VOLT. |
| abwatt | a unit of power. |
| acre | a measure of land equivalent to 4840 square YARDS. |
| acreage | area in ACRES. |
| albedo | the fraction of light reflected from a body or surface ALBEDOS or (US) ALBEDOES. |
| almud almude | a Spanish unit of capacity. The pl. of both is ALMUDES. |
| alnage aulnage | measure by the ELL. |
| amp ampere | a unit of electrical current. [From French physicist, A.M. Ampere]. |
| amperage | current in AMPERES. |
| ampere | see AMP. |
| amu | a unit of atomic mass, aka DALTON. |
| angstrom | a unit of one ten-billionth of a METER. [From A. J. Ångström (1814-74), Swed. physicist]. |
| anker | a liquid measure of 8 1/2 GALLONS. |
| archine arshine arsheen arshin | an old Russian measure of length. |
| arcsecond | an angular unit. |
| ardeb | an Egyptian dry measure of 51/2 BUSHELS. |
| are | 100 sq. metres ARES. |
| arpen arpent | an old French land measure, slightly smaller than an ACRE. |
| arroba | a measure of weight, roughly 25 lbs. |
| arsheen | see ARCHINE. |
| arshin | see ARCHINE. |
| arshine | see ARCHINE. |
| attometre attometer | ten to the power of minus eighteen metres. |
| attosecond | ten to the power of minus eighteen seconds. |
| attotesla | ten to the power of minus eighteen teslas. |
| aulnage | see ALNAGE. |
| aune | an ell; a French measure of cloth. |
| avoirdupois | a system of weights in which the POUND (lb.) has 16 OUNCES. |
| bale | a measure, esp (US) 500lb of cotton. |
| balthasar balthazar belshazzar | a large wine bottle containing 2.80 gallons. |
| bar | a unit of pressure of one million dynes per square CENTIMETER. |
| barleycorn | an old unit of length equal to one-third INCH. |
| barn | a unit of nuclear cross-section. |
| barye | a unit of pressure; a millionth of a bar or MICROBAR. |
| bath | the largest Jewish liquid measure, containing about eight imperial GALLONS. |
| baud | a unit of data transmission speed of one bit per second. |
| becquerel | the SI unit of radioactivity. [From A. H. Becquerel (1852-1908), French physicist, discoverer of radioactivity]. |
| beegah bigha | a land measure in India. |
| bekah | half a SHEKEL. |
| bel | a measure of noise. |
| bicron | one billionth of a METRE. |
| bigha | see BEEGAH. |
| binit | a unit of computer information. |
| boll | a measure of capacity for grain, etc, used in Scotland and N England, in Scotland usu = 6 imperial bushels, in England varying from 2 to 6 BUSHELS; (verb) to form pods on cotton. |
| bottle | a bundle of hay. |
| bourgeois | an old type size, larger than BREVIER and smaller than LONGPRIMER, approximately 9-point. |
| bovate | an old measure of land. |
| braccio | an obsolete Italian measure of length, a little more than half a METRE BRACCIA. |
| braza | a Spanish unit of length. |
| brevier | an old type size (approx 8-point) between bourgeois and minion. |
| bushel | an old measure now fixed at 40 lbs; (verb) to mend or alter e.g. men's clothes > BUSHELED/BUSHELLED. |
| byte | in computing, a set of usu. eight binary digits (bits) considered as a unit. |
| calorie calory | the amount of heat needed to raise one GRAM of water one degree Centigrade in temperature. |
| candela | a unit of luminous intensity. |
| candie candy kandy | a S. Indian weight, approximately 500 lb Imperial. |
| candlepower | an old unit of luminosity. |
| caneh kaneh | a Hebrew measure of 6 cubits. [Hebrew qaneh, reed]. |
| cantar kantar | an Arab unit of weight. |
| carat carrat karat | a unit of weight (metric carat = 200mg) used for gems; (also (esp ) karat) a unit used in expressing the proportion of gold in an alloy, 24-carat gold being pure gold. |
| carucate | as much land as may be tilled in a year and a day by one plough. |
| cattie catty kati katti | a unit of measure used in S.E. Asia. |
| catty | see CATTIE. Also: malicious, spiteful > CATTIER, CATTIEST. |
| cental | a weight of one hundred POUNDS AVOIRDUPOIS. |
| centare centiare | a measure of area, the hundredth part of an ARE; one square meter. |
| centigram centigramme | 1/100th of a GRAM. |
| centiliter centilitre | the hundredth part of a LITRE. |
| centimeter centimetre | the hundredth part of a METER. |
| centimorgan | the hundredth part of a MORGAN. |
| centner | an old unit of weight equal to about 110 POUNDS. |
| chain | a measure of 100 LINKS, or 66 FEET. |
| chalder | an old Scottish dry measure, containing 16 BOLLS. |
| chaldron | an old unit of capacity, equal to 36 heaped BUSHELS. [Fr. chaudron]. |
| chenix choenix | in ancient Greece, a dry measure equivalent to rather more than a QUART. |
| cicero | a measure of type between PICA and English CICEROS. |
| comb coomb | an old measure equal to four BUSHELS. |
| congius | an ancient unit of liquid measure CONGII. |
| cor | a Hebrew measure, equal to 10 EPHAHS. Aka HOMER. |
| cord | a measure of cut wood, 128 cubic feet. |
| coss kos koss | a measure of distance. The pl. of KOS is KOSES. |
| coulomb | the SI unit of electric charge. [From C. A. de Coulomb, French physicist]. |
| coulombic | of or like a COULOMB, the SI unit of electric charge. |
| cran | a measure of capacity for herrings just landed, = 37.5 GALLONS. |
| crith | a unit of mass, that of one litre of hydrogen at standard temperature and pressure. |
| cubit cubitus | an old measure of length. The pl. of CUBITUS is CUBITUSES. |
| cubital | of the length of a CUBIT. |
| cubitus | see CUBIT. |
| cumec | a unit of liquid flow equal to one cubic metre per second. Cf. CUSEC. |
| cunit | one hundred cubit feet. |
| curie | a unit of radioactive decay and intensity. |
| cusec | a unit of liquid flow equal to one cubic foot per second. Cf. CUMEC. |
| dalton | a unit of atomic mass, aka AMU. |
| daraf | a unit of ELASTANCE, the reciprocal of capacitance in farads. |
| darcy | a unit of permeability of rock to various substances. |
| debye | a unit of electrical dipole movement. [From J.W. Debye, Dutch physicist]. |
| decagram decagramme dekagram | a weight of the metric system; ten GRAMS. |
| decaliter decalitre dekaliter | a cubic volume of ten LITERS. |
| decameter decametre dekameter | a measure of length, ten METERS. |
| decare dekare | a measure equal to ten ares, or 1000 square METRES. |
| decastere | a measure of capacity, equal to ten STERES, or ten cubic METERS. |
| deciare | the tenth part of an ARE, 10 square METRES. |
| decibel | a unit of sound loudness, the tenth part of a BEL. The average noise in the playing room at the end of a round in a Scrabble tournament is about 120 decibels. |
| decigram decigramme | a weight in the metric system; one tenth of a gram, equal to 1.5432 grains avoirdupois. |
| decilitre decilitre | one tenth of a LITRE. |
| decimetre decimetre | one tenth of a METRE. |
| decistere | the tenth part of the STERE or cubic meter, equal to 3.531 cubic feet. |
| dekagram | see DECAGRAM. |
| dekaliter | see DECALITER. |
| dekameter | see DECAMETER. |
| dekare | see DECARE. |
| demitasse | (the quantity contained by) a half-cup (esp. of black coffee). |
| demy | an old size of paper, roughly A2. |
| denier | a unit of yarn fineness; also an old French silver coin of small value. |
| dessiatine dessyatine desyatin dessyatin | a Russian measure of land. |
| dioptral | relating to a DIOPTER, a measure of refractive power. |
| dioptre | see DIOPTER. |
| diopter dioptre | a unit of measurement of power of lens or eye. |
| dol | a unit of intensity of pain. [L. dolor, pain]. |
| doppio | a double measure, esp. of espresso coffee > DOPPIOS. |
| drachm | a DRAM; also a monetary unit, a drachma. |
| dram | 1/8 oz. of whisky; (verb) to drink a dram. |
| dunam | a unit of land measure in Israel. |
| duodecimo | (a book) having twelve leaves to a sheet DUODECIMOS. |
| dyne | a unit of force: the force required to accelerate 1 gram to 1 cm per second per second. |
| eighteenmo | a paper size, aka OCTODECIMO. |
| eightvo | a page size, 5" X 8" to 6" X 9.5" of a book composed of printer's EIGHTVOS. Aka OCTAVO. |
| electronvolt | a unit of energy equal to the work done on an electron accelerated through a potential difference of 1 volt. |
| ell | an old measure of length equal to 45 inches. |
| em | the unit of measurement (12-point lower-case 'm') used in spacing material and estimating the dimension of pages. |
| en | half an EM. |
| ennage | the length of a piece of type measured in ENS. |
| epha ephah | a Hebrew dry measure of about 23 litres or 6 gals. |
| erg | 1. a unit of work ERGS. 2. a Saharan area of shifting sand AREG. |
| erlang | a unit of traffic intensity in a telephone system. |
| exahertz | a very large unit of frequency. |
| exametre | two to the power of ten bytes. |
| exitance | the amount per unit area of light or other radiation emitted from a surface. |
| fanega fanegada fanga | a dry measure in Spain and Spanish America. |
| farad | a unit of electrical capacitance. |
| faraday | a unit used in electrolysis. |
| fat | a dry measure of nine BUSHELS. |
| fathom | a measure of length, six FEET. |
| fermi | in physics, a unit of 10 to power of -15 m FERMIS. |
| fingerbreadth | the breadth of a finger. |
| firkin | a unit of capacity equal to half a KILDERKIN: a 1/4 barrel. |
| firlot | (a container used as) a measure of capacity for corn etc. equal to a quarter of a BOLL. |
| fistmele | the breadth of a fist with the thumb extended. |
| flop | a unit of computer processing speed. |
| fluidram | a unit of liquid capacity. |
| foolscap | a (now little-used) size of long folio writing- or printing-paper, generally 13½ by 17 INCHES. |
| foot | twelve INCHES. |
| footbreadth | the width of a FOOT. |
| footlambert | a unit of luminance of a surface emitting one LUMEN per square foot. |
| forpet forpit | a fourth part (now of a peck measure). |
| fresnel | a unit of optical frequency equal to one terahertz. [From A. J. Fresnel, French physicist]. |
| furlong | a measure of length; 220 YARDS or the eighth part of a MILE. |
| gallon | a unit of capacity, in Britain equal to 4.546 LITRES. |
| gallonage | an amount in GALLONS; the rate of use in GALLONS. |
| gauss | a unit of magnetic flux density equal to 1/10000 TESLA. [From K. F. Gauss, Ger. mathematician]. |
| geepound | a unit of mass. |
| gerah | a Hebrew monetary weight or coin, equal to one twentieth of a SHEKEL. |
| gigabit | a thousand million BITS (or, more usually, 2** 30 or 1,073,741,824 bits). |
| gigabyte | a thousand million BYTES (or, more usually, 2**30 or 1,073,741,824 bits). |
| gigaflop | in computing, a unit of processing speed. |
| gigahertz | a thousand million HERTZ. |
| gigaton | a thousand million TONS. |
| gigavolt | a thousand million volts. |
| gigawatt | a thousand million WATTS. |
| gilbert | the CGS unit of magnetomotive force. |
| gill | a small measure, having various values; in recent times = ¼ PINT. |
| gowpen | the hollow of the two hands held together; a double handful. [ON gaupn]. |
| grain | the smallest British weight (the average weight of a seed of corn) = 1/7000 of a pound avoirdupois. |
| gram gramme | a unit of mass in the metric system, formerly that of a cubic CENTIMETRE of water at 4°C, now a thousandth part of the International Prototype Kilogram. |
| grammage | a weight of paper expressed as grams per square metre. |
| grav | a unit of gravitational acceleration. |
| gray | a derived SI unit, the unit of absorbed dose of ionizing radiation, equal to one joule per kilogram. |
| hairbreadth hairsbreadth | the breadth of a hair; a minute distance. |
| hand | a measure of four inches, esp. in the context of horses' heights. |
| handbreadth handsbreadth | the breadth of a hand. |
| handsturn | the single or least act of work: he never does a handsturn. |
| hectare hektare | a measure of area, 100 ARES or 10000 square METRES. |
| hectogram hectogramme | a measure of weight, containing a hundred GRAMS. |
| hectoliter hectolitre | a measure of liquids, containing a hundred LITERS. |
| hectometer hectometre | a measure of length, equal to a hundred METERS. |
| hectostere | a measure of solidity, containing one hundred cubic METERS. |
| heeltap | a small amount of liquor left in the glass after drinking. |
| hektare | see HECTARE. |
| hemina | an obsolete corn measure HEMINAS. |
| henry | a unit of electrical inductance HENRYS or HENRIES. |
| hertz | a unit of electromagnetic frequency. |
| hide | (in old English law) a variable unit of area of land, enough for a household. |
| hin | a Hebrew liquid measure, about four quarts HINS. |
| hogshead | a large cask measuring 54 GALLONS. |
| homer | a Hebrew measure of capacity, roughly 11 BUSHELS. |
| hoppus | as in hoppus foot, a unit of volume for round timber. |
| hundredweight | 1/20 of a TON, or 112lb AVOIRDUPOIS (50.80kg). |
| inch | the twelfth part of a FOOT, equal to 2.54cm; (verb) to move by slow degrees. |
| inchmeal | inch by inch. |
| innage | measurement from bottom of container to surface of liquid. |
| jansky | in astronomy, the unit of strength of radio-emission. [From Karl Jansky, American radio engineer]. |
| jeroboam | an oversize wine bottle holding about four 26-ounce QUARTS. |
| jesus | a size of paper in France JESUS. |
| kab | an ancient Hebrew unit of measure. |
| kandy | see CANDIE. |
| kaneh | see CANEH. |
| kantar | see CANTAR. |
| karat | see CARAT. |
| katal | a derived SI unit, the unit of catalytic activity, equal to one mole per second. |
| kati | see CATTIE. |
| katti | see CATTIE. |
| kbar | a KILOBAR. |
| kelvin | the SI unit of temperature. [From Lord Kelvin]. |
| kemple | 40 BOTTLES of hay or straw. |
| kibibyte | two to the power of ten bytes. |
| kilderkin | a cask measuring 18 GALLONS (1/2 barrel). |
| kilerg | a unit of work, a thousand ERGS. |
| kilo | a KILOGRAM. |
| kilobar | a unit of atmospheric pressure, one thousand BAR. |
| kilobase | a unit of length of a nucleic acid chain. |
| kilobaud | a thousand BAUDS. |
| kilobit | one thousand BITS (or, more usually, 1024 bits). |
| kilobyte | one thousand BYTES (or, more usually, 1024 bytes). |
| kilocalorie | one thousand CALORIES. |
| kilocycle | a unit of frequency: 1 kilocycle per second = 1 KILOHERTZ. |
| kilogauss | a unit of magnetism, 1000 GAUSS. |
| kilogram kilogramme | a measure of weight, one thousand GRAMS. |
| kilogray | a thousand GRAYS, used to measure the absorbed dose of radiation in food. |
| kilohertz | a unit of frequency, 1000 HERTZ. |
| kilojoule | a unit of energy, 1000 JOULES. |
| kiloliter | a unit of capacity, 1000 LITRES. N.B. no KILOLITRE*. |
| kilometer kilometre | a thousand METRES. |
| kilometric | being a KILOMETRE. |
| kilomole | a unit of molecular concentration, 1000 MOLES. |
| kiloparsec | a unit of astronomical distance, 1000 PARSECS. |
| kilopascal | a unit of pressure, 1000 PASCALS. |
| kilopond | a unit of measurement equal to the gravitational force on a mass of one kilogram. |
| kilorad | a unit of radiation, one thousand RAD. |
| kiloton kilotonne | one thousand TONS. |
| kilovolt | a unit of electricity, 1000 VOLTS. |
| kilowatt | one thousand WATTS. |
| klik klick | a kilometre. |
| kor | a Hebrew unit of measure. |
| kos | see COSS. |
| koss | see COSS. |
| lambert | a unit of brightness: brightness of surface radiating one lumen per square centimetre. |
| langley | a unit of illumination used to measure the temperature of a star. |
| league | a measure of three miles; (verb) to join in a league. |
| li | a Chinese unit of distance LIS. |
| liang | a Chinese weight: 37.24 grams. |
| libra | a Roman pound LIBRAE or LIBRAS. |
| ligne | a measure of watch movement. |
| link | the 1/100th part of the surveyor's CHAIN, 7.92 INCHES. |
| lippie lippy | an old Scottish dry measure, the fourth part of a peck. LIPPY is also an adjective: impertinent > LIPPIER, LIPPIEST. |
| lispound lispund | a varying weight, 12 to 34 pounds, used in the Baltic countries and Orkney and Shetland. |
| liter litre | a measure of capacity in the metric system, a cubic DECIMETER. |
| litreage | measurement in litres. |
| longprimer | in printing, a size of type intermediate between small PICA and BOURGEOIS. |
| lumen | a unit of luminous flux LUMENS or LUMINA. |
| lumenal luminal | of a LUMEN, a unit of luminous flux. |
| luminance | luminousness; the measure of the brightness of a surface. |
| lunar | (noun) a lunar distance i.e. the distance from earth to moon. |
| lux | a unit of illumination LUXES or LUCES. |
| mach | a number indicating the ratio of the speed of an object to the speed of sound in the surrounding medium. So a plane moving at twice the speed of sound is travelling at Mach 2. |
| magneton | a unit of the quantized magnetic moment of a particle. |
| magnum | two QUARTS of alcohol; a bottle containing this. |
| maise mease | a measure of five hundreds of herring. |
| maund | a measure of weight in Asia; (verb) to beg. |
| mawn | a regional measure of capacity > MAWNS. |
| maxwell | a unit of magnetic flux. |
| mease | see MAISE. Also a verb (Scots) to assuage, mitigate. |
| mebibyte | 2 to the power of 20 bytes. |
| megabar | a unit of pressure, a million BARS. |
| megabit | a million BITS (or, more usually, 2**10 or 1,048,576 bits). |
| megabyte | a million BYTES (or, more usually, 2**10 or 1,048,576 bytes). |
| megacurie | a unit of radiation, a million CURIES. |
| megadeath | a million deaths. |
| megadose | a very large dose. |
| megadyne | a measure of force, one million DYNES. |
| megafarad | a measure of electrical capacity, one million FARADS. |
| megaflop | in computing, a unit of processing speed. |
| megagauss | a unit of magnetic force, a million GAUSS. |
| megahertz | a measure of frequency, a million HERTZ. |
| megajoule | a million JOULES. |
| meganewton | a measure of gravity, a million NEWTONS. |
| megaparsec | a measure of astronomical distance, a million PARSECS, equal to approximately 3.24 million light-years. |
| megarad | a measure of radiation, a million RADS. |
| megaton | a million TONS. |
| megatonnage | the total explosive capacity in MEGATONS. |
| megavolt | a million VOLTS. |
| megawatt | a million WATTS. |
| megohm | a measure of electrical resistance, one million OHMS. |
| melder | the quantity of meal ground at one time. [ON meldr]. |
| meter metre | the standard unit of length in the metric system; METER is also a verb: to measure by meter. |
| mho | a former unit of electrical inductance. |
| microampere | a millionth of an AMPERE. |
| microbar | a unit of pressure; a millionth of a BAR. |
| microcurie | a unit of radiation, a millionth of a CURIE. |
| microfarad | the millionth part of a FARAD. |
| microgram | a millionth of a GRAM. |
| microhm | the millionth part of an OHM. |
| microinch | one millionth of an inch. |
| microliter microlitre | a millionth of a LITER. |
| microlux | a millionth of a LUX > MICROLUXES or MICROLUCES. |
| micrometer micrometre | a millionth of a METRE. |
| micromho | a millionth of a MHO. |
| micromicrocurie | the trillionth part of a CURIE. |
| micromicrofarad | the trillionth part of a FARAD. |
| micromillimetre | a millionth part of a MILLIMETRE (now called a NANOMETRE). |
| micromolar | relating to a MICROMOLE, a millionth of a MOLE. |
| micromole | a millionth of a MOLE. |
| micron | a MICROMETRE. |
| microvolt | the millionth part of one VOLT. |
| microwatt | a millionth of a WATT. |
| middy | (Aust. sl.) a measure of beer, varying in amount from one place to another; the glass containing it. |
| mikron | a MICROMETRE MIKRA or MIKRONS. |
| milage mileage | distance in MILES. |
| mile | a unit of linear measure, 1760 YARDS. |
| milliampere milliamp | a thousandth of an AMPERE. |
| milliare | a unit of area, a thousandth of an ARE. |
| milliary | relating to a Roman mile; (noun) a Roman milestone. |
| millibar | the usual unit of barometric pressure, equal to a thousandth of a BAR (100 pascals). |
| millicurie | a thousandth of a CURIE. |
| millidegree | a thousandth of a degree. |
| millier | a unit of weight. |
| milligal | a thousandth of a GALLON. |
| milligram milligramme | a thousandth of a GRAM. |
| millihenry | a thousandth of a HENRY MILLIHENRIES or MILLIHENRYS. |
| millilambert | a thousandth of a LAMBERT. |
| millilitre millilitre | a thousandth part of a LITRE. |
| millilux | a thousandth of a LUX MILLILUCES or MILLILUXES. |
| millimetre millimetre | a thousandth part of a METRE. |
| millimho | a thousandth of a MHO. |
| millimicron | a thousandth of a MICRON. |
| millimolar | relating to a MILLIMOLE, a thousandth of a MOLE. |
| millimole | a thousandth of a MOLE. |
| milline | a unit of advertising space. |
| milliohm | one thousandth of an OHM. |
| milliosmol | one thousandth of an OSMOL, a unit of osmotic pressure. |
| milliradian | a thousandth of a RADIAN. |
| millirem | one thousandth of an REM. |
| milliroentgen | one thousandth of a ROENTGEN. |
| millisievert | one thousandth of a SIEVERT. |
| millivolt | one thousandth of a VOLT. |
| milliwatt | one thousandth of a WATT. |
| miskal | an Oriental unit of weight. [Arabic mitkal, from takala, to weigh]. |
| mnemon | a hypothetical unit of memory. [Gk. mnemon, mindful]. |
| mol mole | a base SI unit, the unit of amount of substance, defined as the amount of substance that contains as many (specified) entities (eg atoms, molecules, ions, photons) as there are atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12. |
| morgan | a unit of distance between genes on a chromosome. |
| morgen | a unit of land area slightly more than two ACRES. |
| muid | an old French measure of capacity; a hogshead; a dry measure for corn, etc. |
| multiton | weighing many TONS. |
| mutchkin | an old unit of liquid measurement equal to 3/4 of an imperial pint. |
| nanogram | one billionth of a GRAM. |
| nanometer nanometre | a billionth of a METRE. |
| nanotesla | a billionth of a TESLA. |
| nanowatt | one billionth of a watt. |
| nebuchadnezzar | an oversize wine bottle holding about 3.50 GALLONS. |
| neper | a unit for expressing the ratio of two currents or voltages. |
| nepit nit | a unit of information, 1.44 bits. |
| newton | a unit of gravitational force. |
| noggin | a measure of about a GILL. |
| nonmetric | not metric. |
| nonohmic | not measured in OHMS. |
| nybble | in computing, half a BYTE. |
| octa okta | a unit of cloud-cover, one-eighth of the sky. |
| octant | the eighth part of a circle, 45 degrees. |
| octavo | a page size, 5" X 8" to 6" X 9.5" of a book composed of printer's OCTAVOS. Aka EIGHTVO. |
| octodecimo | in pages, 4" X 6.5", 18 leaves or 36 pages. |
| oersted | a unit of magnetic field strength. [From Hans Christian Oersted]. |
| ohm | a unit of electrical resistance. |
| ohmage | electrical resistance measured in OHMS. |
| oka oke | a Turkish weight. |
| okta | see OCTA. |
| omer | a Hebrew dry measure, = 1/10 EPHA. Seems to be different from a HOMER. |
| osmol osmole | a unit of osmotic pressure. |
| osmolal | relating to an OSMOL, a unit of osmotic pressure. |
| osmole | see OSMOL. |
| ounce | one-sixteenth of a POUND. |
| oxgang oxgate oxland | a BOVATE or one-eighth of a CARUCATE of ploughland, the share attributed to each ox in a team of eight. |
| parasang | an old Persian measure of length. [Gk. parasanges, from Old Persian (modern Persian farsang)]. |
| parsec secpar | a unit of astronomical distance. |
| pascal | a unit of pressure, one NEWTON per square METER. |
| pebibyte | two to the power of 50 bytes. |
| peck | an old unit of dry measure equal to 8 quarts. |
| pennyweight | an old unit of weight. |
| perch | a measure of 5 ½ YARDS, aka ROD or POLE. |
| petameter petametre | ten to the power of fifteen metres. |
| phon | a unit of loudness of sound as heard by listeners. [Gk. phone sound, voice.] |
| phot | a unit of the product of illumination and duration, equal to one LUX maintained for one second. |
| photon | a quantum of light or other electromagnetic radiation. |
| photonic | relating to a PHOTON. |
| pica | an old type size, approximately, and still used synonymously for, 12-point. |
| picocurie | a millionth of a millionth of a CURIE. |
| picofarad | a millionth of a millionth of a FARAD. |
| picogram | a millionth of a millionth of a GRAM. |
| picomole | a millionth of a millionth of a MOLE. |
| picul pikul | a unit of weight used in China and SE Asia, equal to about 100 CATTIES. [Malay picul, a load]. |
| pint | a measure of capacity equal to half a QUART or 4 GILLS. |
| pipe | a unit of liquid capacity equal to two HOGSHEADS. |
| poise | a CGS unit of viscosity. |
| pole | a unit of area equal to a square ROD. |
| ponderal | relating to weight, ascertained by weight. |
| pood | a Russian weight, equal to forty Russian pounds or about thirty-six English pounds avoirdupois. |
| pott | a paper-size. |
| pottle | an old measure of half a gallon, or thereabouts. |
| pound | sixteen OUNCES. |
| poundal | a unit of force: the force imparting to one pound mass an acceleration of one foot per second. |
| probit | a unit of measurement of statistical probability. |
| quadrant | the fourth part of a circle, 90 degrees. |
| quadrat | in ecology, a small area (usu one square metre) of ground marked off for the detailed investigation of animal and plant life. |
| quantal | of or pertaining to a QUANTUM. |
| quantally | in a manner related to a QUANTUM. |
| quantum | a minimum quantity > QUANTA or QUANTUMS. |
| quart | the fourth part of a GALLON, or two PINTS. |
| quartern | one quarter of various measures; a quartern loaf: a four-pound loaf. |
| quarto | a book size made by folding sheet into four leaves. |
| quintal | a unit of weight equal to 100 KILOGRAMS. |
| quire | 1. twenty-four sheets of paper of same size; (verb) to sing in concert. |
| radian | the derived SI unit of plane angle, equal to the angle between two lines which, when drawn from the centre of a circle, divide off on its circumference an arc equal to its radius, nearly 57.3 degrees. |
| rehoboam | a large wine bottle containing 1.05 GALLONS. |
| rem | a unit of radiation damage. |
| remen | an ancient Egyptian measure of length. |
| ripp | a plucked handful e.g. of grass, corn. |
| rod | a measure of 5 ½ YARDS, aka PERCH or POLE. |
| roentgen rontgen | the international unit of dose of X-rays. [From German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, discoverer of the röntgen rays or X-rays]. |
| rotl | a unit of weight in some Middle Eastern and eastern Mediterranean countries ARTAL or ROTLS. |
| rotolo | an Italian form of ROTL, a unit of weight > ROTOLOS or ROTOLI. |
| runlet rundlet | an old liquid measure equal to about 15 GALLONS. |
| rutherford | a unit of radioactive decay equal to 1 million disintegrations per second. |
| sabin | a unit of acoustic absorption of one square foot of a perfect absorber. |
| salmanaser salmanazar | a large wine bottle containing 2.10 gallons. |
| sazhen | a unit of length formerly used in Russia, equal to 7 feet (2.13 m). |
| scintilla | the amount of doubt required to be present in the minds of certain Scrabble players before they challenge an opponent's word. |
| scruple | a unit of weight used by apothecaries equal to 1/24 of an OUNCE. |
| secpar | see PARSEC. |
| ser | a unit of weight in India. |
| sextant | the sixth part of a circle, 60 degrees. |
| sextarius | an ancient Roman unit of liquid measure SEXTARII or SEXTARIUSES. |
| sexto | a paper size SEXTOS. Aka SIXMO. |
| sextodecimo | a book size 55/8 x 43/8 in. (abbreviated as 16mo.). Aka SIXTEENMO. |
| shekel sheqel | an ancient unit of weight, about 11.4 gm. The pl. of SHEQEL is SHEQALIM or SHEQELS. |
| shippound | in the Baltic ports, twenty LISPOUNDS, a varying weight, 12 to 34 pounds. |
| siemens | a unit of electrical conductance equivalent to one AMPERE per VOLT > SIEMENSES. [From Sir William Siemens, German-born British inventor and industrialist]. |
| sievert | the SI unit of radiation dose. [From R. M. Sievert, 20th-cent. Swed. radiologist]. |
| sixmo | a paper size SIXMOS. Aka SEXTO. |
| sixteenmo | a book size 55/8 x 43/8 in. (abbreviated as 16mo.) SIXTEENMOS. Aka SEXTODECIMO. |
| sleever | an old Welsh measure for beer, about 3/4 pint. |
| sone | a unit of loudness on a scale based on subjective or perceived loudness. |
| sowp | a spoonful, a sip. |
| span | the space from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger when the fingers are extended; nine INCHES. |
| steradian | a unit of measurement for solid angles. |
| stere | a timber measure, a cubic METRE (about 35.315 cubic feet). |
| stilb | the CGS unit of intrinsic brightness. [Gk. stilbein, to shine]. |
| submillimeter | a microscopic division of a MILLIMETER > SUBMILLIMETERS. |
| swarth swath swathe | the quantity of grass cut down by one sweep of the scythe. SWATHE is also a verb: to cut a swathe. |
| tael | a Chinese liang or ounce, about 38g (1.3oz). |
| talent tallent | an old weight. |
| tebibyte | two to the power of 40 bytes. |
| teraflop | a trillion (10 to the 12th) calculations per second > TERAFLOPS. |
| terahertz | a large unit of electrical frequency. |
| terameter | ten to the power of 12 meters. |
| teraohm | a trillion OHMS. |
| terawatt | a trillion WATTS. |
| tesla | a unit of magnetic flux density equal to one WEBER per square meter. [From Nikolai Tesla]. |
| tex | a unit of weight used to measure the density of yarn. |
| therblig | a unit of work for quantifying industrial operations. [From F.B.Gilbreth, an American engineer influential in the field of motion study]. |
| therm therme | a unit of quantity of heat equal to 100,000 British thermal units. |
| tierce | a unit of capacity equal to one-third of a PIPE, usu. equivalent to 35 gallons. |
| titer titre | orig. the fineness of gold or silver. Now (Chem.), the concentration of a solution as determined by titration; the minimum volume of a solution needed to reach the end- point in a titration. |
| tod | an old wool weight; (verb) to yield a tod. |
| tog | a unit of measurement of thermal insulation as a property of textile fabrics used eg for quilts; (verb) to dress up. |
| toise | an old measure of length in France, containing six French feet. |
| tola | an Indian unit of weight. [Hindi from Skr. tula, weight]. |
| ton | a unit of weight equivalent to 20 HUNDREDWEIGHT (2240lb or 1016kg). |
| tonnage | the cargo- or freight-carrying capacity of a ship measured in TONS. |
| tonne | the preferred name for a metric ton, a unit of weight equal to 1000 KILOGRAMS. |
| torr | a unit of pressure equal to 1/760 of standard atmospheric pressure. |
| troland | a unit of measurement of retinal response to light. [From L. T. Troland, US physicist and psychologist]. |
| troy | a system of weights. [From Troyes in France]. |
| tsubo | a Japanese measure of area. |
| tun | an obsolete liquid measure equivalent to 216 gallons of ale, or 252 of wine. |
| twelvemo | a paper size, aka DUODECIMO TWELVEMOS. |
| typp | a unit of yarn size. |
| ullage | the amount by which a container of liquor falls short of being full; (verb) to reckon the ULLAGE of. |
| unce | an ounce. |
| unitage | an amount in units. |
| var | a unit of reactive power. |
| vara vare | a Spanish American linear measure. [Sp. vara, rod]. |
| verst verste | a unit of distance equal to approximately 2/3 of a MILE. |
| virgate | an old unit of land area usually equal to 30 acres or 1/4 HIDE. |
| volt | the unit of electromotive force. |
| watt | the SI unit of power, equal to a rate of working of one JOULE per second. |
| wattage | an amount of power expressed in WATTS. |
| watthour | a unit of electrical consumption. |
| weber | a unit of magnetic flux equal to 100 million MAXWELLS. [From Wilhelm Weber (1804-91), German physicist]. |
| wey | a measure of dry goods. |
| yard | a unit of imperial length, three FEET or thirty-six INCHES. |
| yardland | a unit of land area equal to 30 ACRES. |
| yojan yojana | in the Indian subcontinent: a measure of distance. |
| yrneh | a unit of reciprocal inductance. Cf. HENRY. |