The pound or pound-mass (abbreviation: lb, lbm, or sometimes in the United States: #) is a unit of mass used in the imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement. A number of different definitions have been used, the most common today being the international avoirdupois pound of exactly 0.45359237 kilogram.
The word pound comes from the Latin word pondus meaning "weight". The abbreviation lb comes from the Latin word libra, m...
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The pound or pound-mass (abbreviation: lb, lbm, or sometimes in the United States: #) is a unit of mass used in the imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement. A number of different definitions have been used, the most common today being the international avoirdupois pound of exactly 0.45359237 kilogram.
The word pound comes from the Latin word pondus meaning "weight". The abbreviation lb comes from the Latin word libra, meaning "scales, balances", which also described a Roman unit similar to the pound (note that the commonly used lbs abbreviation for the plural unit of measurement is incorrect, as lb is both the singular and plural abbreviation). Usage of the unqualified term pound reflects the historical conflation of mass and weight resulting from the near uniformity of gravity on Earth. This accounts for the modern distinguishing terms pound-mass and pound-force.
Historically, in different parts of the world, at different points in time, and for different...
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