Where does “avoirdupois” come from?
Avoirdupois comes from Middle English avoir de pois, from Old French avoir meaning "to have," from Latin habere, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gʰeh₁bʰ- meaning "to grasp or hold."
avoirdupois (English): The official system of weights used in the UK...
Definitions
- The official system of weights used in the UK...
Ancestry of “avoirdupois”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | avoir de pois | — |
| 2 | Old French | aveir | Alternative form of avoir |
| 3 | Old French | avoir | to have; to exist; possession; good |
| 4 | Latin | habēre | — |