Where does “pound” come from?
Pound comes from Middle English pund, from Old English pund, from Latin pondus, meaning weight, ultimately from Latin pendere, meaning to weigh or hang.
pound (English): A unit of weight in various measurement systems
Definitions
- A unit of weight in various measurement systems
Ancestry of “pound”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | pound | A measurement for weight, most notably the Tower... |
| 2 | Old English | pund | pound |
| 3 | Proto-Germanic | *pund | — |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | pundą | pound |
| 5 | Latin | pondus | weight; weight of a pound; heaviness, weight of a... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | pondos | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)pénd-os | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)pend- | to stretch |