The stone is a unit of mass. It is part of the Imperial system of weights and measures used in the British Isles, and formerly used in most Commonwealth countries. It is equal to 14 pounds and to 6.35029318 kilograms. For other uses, see Mass (disambiguation). ... This article is about post-1824 imperial units, see also English unit, U.S. customary units or Avoirdupois. ... This article explains the archipelago in north-western Europe. ... The Commonwealth of Nations as of 2008. ... Look up pound in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Kg redirects here. ...

Eight stone make a hundredweight in the Imperial system. Hundred weight or hundredweight is a unit of measurement for mass in both the system of measurement used in the United Kingdom (and previously throughout the British Commonwealth), and in the system used in the United States. ...

The plural form of stone is correctly stone, though stones is sometimes used, not usually by natives of the British Isles. The abbreviation is st.

History

The stone was historically used for weighing agricultural commodities. Potatoes, for example, were traditionally sold in stone and half-stone (14-pound and 7-pound) quantities. Historically the number of pounds in a stone varied by commodity, and was not the same in all times and places even for one commodity. The OED contains examples^[1] including: For other uses, see Potato (disambiguation). ... The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is the most successful dictionary of the English language, (not to be confused with the one-volume Oxford Dictionary of English, formerly New Oxford Dictionary of English, of...

For other uses, see Wool (disambiguation). ... candle wax This page is about the substance. ... This article is about sugar as food and as an important and widely-traded commodity. ... For other uses, see Spice (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Beef (disambiguation). ... Mutton may refer to either: The meat of a sheep In parts of Asia, the meat of a goat Category: ...

Current use

Although no longer an official unit of measure, the stone remains widely used within the British Isles as a means of expressing human body weight. People in these countries normally describe themselves as weighing, for example, "11 stone 4" (11 stone and 4 pounds), rather than "72 kilograms" in most other countries, or "158 pounds" (the conventional way of expressing the same weight in the United States). Its widespread colloquial use may be compared to the persistence in the British Isles of other Imperial units like the foot, the inch, and the mile, despite these having been supplanted entirely or partly by metric units in official use and other contexts. Road distances and speed enforcement area are still expressed officially in yards, miles and miles-per-hour in the United Kingdom. A similar usage persists in Canada, but the Republic of Ireland now uses the metric system. In official use, provision is usually made for the public to express body weight in either stone or kilograms (similar allowance is made for measuring height in feet and inches). For example, on a National Health Service website both metric and Imperial units are used ^[2]. This article explains the archipelago in north-western Europe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with human weight. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... An inch (plural: inches; symbol or abbreviation: in or, sometimes, ″ - a double prime) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... “Miles” redirects here. ... NHS redirects here. ...

Outside the British Isles, stone may also be used to express body weight in casual contexts in other Commonwealth countries, particularly Australia.

See also

• Human weight
• Body weight
• Conversion of units
• English unit
• History of measurement

Weight, in the context of human body weight measurements in the medical sciences and in sports is a measurement of mass, and is thus expressed in units of mass, such as kilograms (kg), or units of force such as pounds (lb). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with human weight. ... Conversion of units refers to conversion factors between different units of measurement for the same quantity. ... English unit is the American name for a unit in one of a number of systems of units of measurement, some obsolete, and some still in use. ... Some human-referenced units of measurement Units of measurement were among the earliest tools invented by humans. ...

External links

• UK: The Units of Measurement Regulations 1995

Notes: