Ounces

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈaʊnsɪz/

Definitions

1. A unit of weight in the imperial system equal to about 28.35 grams
2. A unit of liquid capacity equivalent to about 29.57 milliliters
3. Often used to measure food and drink, commonly appearing in recipes and nutritional labels

Etymology: The plural "ounces" is simply the plural of "ounce," so the story lies in the singular. The unit's name comes from Latin "ūncia," which was a Roman unit equal to one twelfth of a larger measure, whether of weight or length. That makes the ounce a distant cousin of "inch," which descends from the same Latin word, and the same root also gave us "one," since "ūncia" traces back to a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "one." English has a second, odder source for the word. In Middle French, "once" was also used for the lynx, a cat whose name came from "lonce," a form in which the initial "l" was mistakenly taken as the article. The Old French "lonce" traces back through Italian to Ancient Greek "lúnx," meaning lynx. The two unrelated words merged in French, and the weight unit inherited that spelling.

Synonyms: units, weights

Antonyms: pounds