List of obsolete units of measurement

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This is a list of obsolete units of measurement, organized by type. These units of measurement are typically no longer used, though some may be in limited use in various regions. For units of measurement that are unusual but not necessarily obsolete, see List of unusual units of measurement. For units of measurement that are humorous in nature, see List of humorous units of measurement.

Area

An overview of farm-derived units of measurement. Several of these are obsolete: the oxgang, the virgate, and the carucate.

Antsingae – a unit of area, smaller than the bunarium.^[1]
Bunarium (plural "bunaria") – a unit of area, equal to about 120 ares or 12,000 square metres^[1]
Carucate
Cawnie
Decimal
Dessiatin
Ground
Hide
Juchart
Jugerum
Katha
Lessa or Lecha^[2]
Marabba
Morgen
Oxgang
Pari – a unit of area equal to about 1 hectare
Quinaria
Tathe
Virgate

Energy, etc.

Poncelet – unit of power
Sthène – unit of force
Technical atmosphere – a unit of pressure

Length

Ald
Alen
Aṅgula
Arabic mile
Arş and Arşın – two Turkish units of length
Bamboo – also known as the Burmese league
Barleycorn – one-third of an inch.
Cana – a unit of length used in the former Crown of Aragon, at least in Catalonia. It is around the same value as the vara of Aragon, Spain, and Portugal.^[3]
Cubit^[4]
Ell
Girah
Guz
Hat'h
Jow
Lachter – a unit of length once used in the mining industry in most of Europe. It was usually used to measure depth, tunnel driving and the size of mining fields; it was also used for contract work. In mining in the German-speaking countries, it was the primary unit of length.
Ligne – a French unit of length, roughly equal to 2.25 mm (0.089 in), or 9 points
Line
Macedonian cubit
Pace
Palm
Parasang
Pes
Pyramid inch – a unit of length, believed to be equal to ¹⁄₂₅ of the cubit
Rod
Sana lamjel
Spat – a unit of length equal to 1,000,000,000 km (620,000,000 mi)
Stadion
Step
Unglie
Vara – an Aragonese, Spain , and Portuguese unit^[3]
Yojana – a Vedic measure of distance used in ancient India . Its value was about 10 km (6.2 mi), although the exact value is disputed among scholars (between 8 and 13 km or 5 and 8 mi)

Luminosity

A Hefner lamp (German: Hefnerkerze)

Carcel burner – an efficient lighting device used in the nineteenth century for domestic purposes and in France as the standard measure for illumination
Carcel
Hefner candle
Violle

Mass or weight

Abucco – in Bago, Myanmar, this was a unit of mass used for gold and silver. It was approximately 196.44 grams or 6.316 troy ounces.^[5]
Arroba – an Iberian unit of weight, equivalent to 11.5 kilograms^[6]
Buddam
Candy
Corgee – an obsolete unit of mass equal to 212 moodahs, or rush mat bundles of rice. The unit was used in the Canara (now Kanara) region of Karnataka in India .
Cullingey
Dharni
Dirham
Duella
Dutch cask – a British unit of mass, used for butter and cheese. Equal to 112 lb (51 kg).
Esterling
Faggot – has multiple meanings in metrology. As relevant to this article, it was a unit of mass, being 120 lb (54 kg).
Grzywna
Keel – a UK unit of mass for coal, equaling 21,540.19446656 kg (47,488.0000000 lb)^[7]^:48
Large sack – a unit of mass equal to 2 (new) sacks
Long ton
Lot
Mark
Munjandie
Oka
Pao
Passeree – a unit of mass equal to about 4.6 kg (10.1412640605 lb)
Pennyweight
Pood
Roll – a U.K. unit of mass for butter and cheese^[7]^:46 equal to 24 oz (680 g)^[7]^:52
Room – a U.K. unit of mass of coal equivalent to 15,680 lb (7,110 kg)^[7]^:52
Sarpler
Ship load
Slug
Talent – a unit of mass in the tens of kg
Tank
Tod
Truss – a unit of mass used to describe tight bundle of hay or straw. It would usually be cuboid, for storage or shipping, and would either be harvested into such bundles or cut from a large rick.
Whey – a unit of mass used for butter and cheese
Zentner
Zolotnik

Temperature

Delisle scale
Leiden scale
Newton scale – a temperature scale devised by Isaac Newton in 1701.^[8]^[9]^[10]
Réaumur scale
Rømer scale
Wedgwood scale

Volume (dry or liquid)

Glass milk bottles from 1950s Quebec. From largest to smallest, they are a pinte (quart), a chopine (pint), and a demiard (half-pint).^[11] The latter was used for cream.

Acetabulum
Adowlie
Amphora
Aum
Belshazzar
Botella − Spanish for "bottle", which has been given various standard capacities at different times and places, and for different fluids.^[12] Often-cited figures include 0.95 liters in Cuba (1796), 0.75 liters in Cuba (1862) and 0.7 liters in Colombia (1957).^[13]
Bucket
Butt
Chungah
Congius
Coomb
Cord-foot – a U.S. unit of volume for stacked firewood with the symbol cd-ft equal to 16 cu ft (0.45 m³)^[7]^:52
Cotyla
Cran
Cullishigay
Deal – a former United Kingdom and United States unit of volume for stacked firewood.^[7] A U.K. deal equaled 7 ft × 6 ft × 2 ¹⁄₂ in, while a U.S. deal equaled 12 ft × 11 in × 1 ¹⁄₂ in.^[7]
Demiard – an old French unit of volume. When France metricated, it survived in Louisiana and Quebec. The demiard eventually became associated with the American and British half-pint rather than French units.^[7]^:34 See the article on the demiard for details.
Firlot
Hekat
Hogshead
Homer
House cord – a former U.S. unit of volume for stacked firewood^[7]
Kile
Koku
Lambda – an uncommon metric unit of volume discontinued with the introduction of the SI
London quarter
Lump of butter – used in the U.S. up to and possibly after of the American Revolution. It equaled "one well rounded tablespoon."^[14]
Masu
Metretes
Octave
Omer
Pau
Peck – the name of two different units of volume, one imperial and one U.S. Both equaled about 9 litres.
Puddee
Salt spoon – used in the U.S., up to and possibly after of the American Revolution. Four salt spoons equaled one teaspoon.^[14]
Seah
Ser
Shipping ton – a unit of volume defined as 50 cu ft (1.4 m³)
Stuck
Wineglass – used in the U.S., up to and possibly after of the American Revolution. One wineglass equaled ¹⁄₄ cup.^[14]

Other

Apothecaries' system
Atom (time) – a hypothetical unit of time used in the Middle Ages
Bahar – a unit of length in Iran, and was a unit of mass in Oman
Batman – mostly a unit of mass, but sometimes a unit of area
Demal – unit of concentration
Dimi (metric prefix) – a discontinued non-SI metric prefix for 10⁻⁴^[7]
Fanega – a unit of dry volume, and a unit of area
Fresnel – a unit of frequency
Garce – a unit of dry volume in India, and a unit of mass in Sri Lanka
Hobbit – a unit of volume, or, more rarely, of weight
Kula – a unit of area in India, and mass in Morocco
Last – a unit of mass or volume
League – usually a unit of length, but sometimes a unit of area
Mache
Mesures usuelles
Perch – most commonly a unit of area, but sometimes a unit of length or volume
Pièze – a unit of pressure
Quibi – a unit of time equal to 10 minutes. First used in Quibi’s own Super Bowl LIII advertising campaign, this word saw small amounts of ironic adoption.
Rood – a unit of area or length
Sack – originally a medieval unit of mass, equal to 26 stone (364 pounds, or about 165 kg). Since a unit of dry volume, equal to 24 imperial gallons (about 109 liters).
Schoenus – a unit of area or length
Scrupulum – a unit of area, mass, or time
Seam – a unit of mass or volume
Seer – a unit of mass or volume
Toise – a unit of area, length, or volume
Tub – usually a unit of mass, but sometimes a unit of volume
Uncia – an ancient Roman unit of length, mass, or volume
Wey – a unit of mass or volume
Winchester measure – a system of volume measurement

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Herlihy, David (2009). Medieval Households. Harvard University Press. p. 69. ISBN 9780674038608. https://books.google.com/books?id=zFplsa4-kcoC&pg=PA69.
↑ Lessa or Lecha Unit Converter
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Gilbert, E.W.; Beckinsale, R.P. (1944). Spain & Portugal: Spain. Its Geographical handbook series. Naval Intelligence Division. https://books.google.com/books?id=he0bAAAAMAAJ.
↑ Hoong, Tho Lai; Yi, Tho Mun (2008). Interactive Science For Inquiring Minds Volume A. Panpac Education Pte Ltd. p. 33. ISBN 978-9812716187. https://books.google.com/books?id=UXeUTVtsb9oC&pg=PA33.
↑ Kisch, Bruno (1965). Scales and Weights. Original from the University of California: Yale University Press. p. 237. https://books.google.com/books?id=Odi4AAAAIAAJ&q=abucco+gold+silver.
↑ William Parry, Louis Albert Fischer,State and National Laws Concerning the Weights and Measures of the United StatesUnited States National Bureau of Standards, 1912 p. 414
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 ^7.3 ^7.4 ^7.5 ^7.6 ^7.7 ^7.8 ^7.9 Cardarelli, François (2003). Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. Their SI Equivalences and Origins. London: Springer. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-4471-1122-1. https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofs0000card.
↑ Published anonymously as "Scala graduum Caloris. Calorum Descriptiones & signa." in Philosophical Transactions. 1701. pp. 824–829. https://books.google.com/books?id=x8NeAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA824.
↑ Nichols, Joannes, ed (1782). Isaaci Newtoni Opera quae exstant omnia. 4. pp. 403–407. https://books.google.com/books?id=Dz2FzJqaJMUC&pg=PA403.
↑ Silverman, Mark P. (2002), A Universe of Atoms, Springer, p. 49, ISBN 9780387954370, https://books.google.com/books?id=-Er5pIsYe_AC&pg=PA49
↑ Trudel, Marcel, Introduction to New France, p. 222
↑ sizes.com lists figures for bottles in Bolivia from 460 ml to 1 liter.
↑ McCusker, John (2005). Essays in the Economic History of the Atlantic World. Routledge. pp. 63. ISBN 1134703406. https://books.google.com/books?id=a2-GAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA63.
↑ ^14.0 ^14.1 ^14.2 Pelton, Robert W.; Pelton, W. Pelton (2004). Baking Recipes of Our Founding Fathers. Infinity Publishing. pp. 263–264. ISBN 0741419440. https://books.google.com/books?id=idKQOGe7r_sC&pg=PA263.