English
libra
Libra comes from Portuguese libra ‘English or American pound, a unit of mass…’, and goes back to Latin libra.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElibra1‘pound’
- Italianc. 1300–presentlibra1‘pound’
- Spanishc. 1500–presentlibra1‘English or American pound avoirdupois’
- Portuguesec. 1500–presentlibra1‘English or American pound, a unit of mass equal to 454 g’
- Englishtodaylibra1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English libra
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElibraWiktionary, English libra‘pound’
- Italianc. 1300–presentlibraWiktionary, English libra‘pound’
- Spanishc. 1500–presentlibraWiktionary, English libra‘English or American pound avoirdupois’
- Portuguesec. 1500–presentlibraWiktionary, English libra‘English or American pound, a unit of mass equal to 454 g’
- EnglishtodaylibraWiktionary, English libra
Linked words
through Proto-Italic *līðrā ‘ingot’
through Latin libra ‘pound’
level, deliberate, equilibrium, deliberation, lira, deliberative, 8 more
Today it means
noun A Roman unit of mass, usually equivalent to 327 g.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “libra”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin libra / libra