libra

See also: Libra and librá

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *leyH-der.

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰromder.

Proto-Italic *līðrā?

Latin librabor.

Italian librabor.

Spanish librabor.

Portuguese librabor.

English libra

From Latin lībra (“pound”), partially via Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese libra. Doublet of arratel, libbra, Libra, lira, litra, litre, livre, and rottol.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈliːbrə/, /ˈlaɪbrə/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Noun

libra (plural libras or (Roman contexts) librae)

1. (historical) A Roman unit of mass, usually equivalent to 327 g.
2. (historical) A traditional Spanish unit of mass, usually around 460 g.
3. (historical) A traditional Portuguese unit of mass, usually equivalent to 345 g and particularly used for trade in medicines.
4. (historical) Synonym of arratel, a separate Portuguese unit of mass, usually around 460 g.
5. (historical) Alternative spelling of libbra, a traditional Italian unit of mass.
6. (historical) Synonym of pound, a notional pound of silver as a money of account, especially in medieval contexts.

Synonyms

• (Roman unit of mass): Roman pound, pound (Roman contexts)
• (Spanish unit of mass): Spanish pound, pound (Spanish contexts)
• (Portuguese unit of mass): Portuguese pound, pound (Portuguese contexts, but more often used for the arratel)

Coordinate terms

• (Roman unit of mass): uncia (¹⁄₁₂ libra)
• (Spanish unit of mass): onza (¹⁄₁₆ libra), cuarteron (¹⁄₄ libra), marco (¹⁄₁ libra), arroba (25 libras), quintal (100 libras), tonelada (2,000 libras)
• (Portuguese unit of mass): oitava (usually ¹⁄₇₂ libra), onça (usually ¹⁄₁₂ libra), quarta (usually ¹⁄₃ libra), marco (usually ²⁄₃ libra), arratel (usually 1+¹⁄₃ libras)

References

• Dictionary of Units of Measurement

Anagrams

• Arbil, Baril, Blair, Bliar, Rabil, brail

Albanian

Noun

libra

1. indefinite nominative/accusative plural of libër

Czech

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *leyH-der.

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰromder.

Proto-Italic *līðrā?

Latin librabor.

Czech libra

Borrowed from Latin libra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɪbra]

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

libra f

1. pound (unit of measure)
2. pound (currency)

Declension

Declension of libra (hard feminine reducible)

	singular	plural
nominative	libra	libry
genitive	libry	liber
dative	libře	librám
accusative	libru	libry
vocative	libro	libry
locative	libře	librách
instrumental	librou	librami

Further reading

• “libra”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “libra”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Galician

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese livra, attested in the 13th-century Cantigas de Santa Maria, from Latin libra (“Roman pound”). Doublet of lira. In reference to the English unit, a calque of English pound. Cognate with Portuguese and Spanish libra and Catalan lliura.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈliβɾɐ]

Noun

libra f (plural libras)

1. English or American pound, a unit of mass equivalent to 453.6 g
2. (historical) Galician pound, a unit of mass equivalent to about 575 g
3. (historical) libra, Spanish pound, a unit of mass equivalent to about 460 g
4. British pound, a unit of British currency originally notionally equal to a pound of sterling silver

   Synonym: libra esterlina

5. (chiefly historical) pound, other similar currencies originally notionally equal to a pound of gold or silver

Coordinate terms

• (Galician pound): onza (¹⁄₂₀ libra)
• (Spanish pound): onza (¹⁄₁₆ libra)

Noun

libra m or f by sense (plural libras)

1. Libra (someone with the Libra star sign)

Related terms

• Libra

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “libra”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “libra”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, editor (2006–2013), “libra”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, Ernesto X. González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “libra”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “libra”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Etymology 2

Verb

libra

1. inflection of librar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈli.bra/
• Rhymes: -ibra
• Hyphenation: lì‧bra

Noun

libra f (plural libre)

1. pound

Latin

Etymology 1

Of uncertain origin. The word's original form was something like Proto-Italic *līðrā, *leiðrā (“pound”), surviving also in Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra), whence English litre.

Weiss derives the term from Proto-Indo-European *leyH- (“to pour”) suffixed with the instrumental/resultative suffix *-dʰrom, under the assumption that the term originally meant "pouring (of metal)" before evolving to mean a unit of weight. In this case, then cognate with Proto-Slavic *lìti (“to pour”), Proto-Celtic *liyeti (“to flow”), Ancient Greek λείβω (leíbō, “to pour”), Lithuanian li̇́eti (“to let flow”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.bra]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.bra]

Noun

lībra f (genitive lībrae); first declension

1. (historical) libra, Roman pound, a Roman unit of mass, equivalent to about 327 g
2. scales, a tool used to balance two weights to measure amounts
3. level, a tool used to check surfaces for horizontal and vertical alignment
4. (Medieval Latin, New Latin) pound, any of various units of mass derived from or roughly equivalent to the Roman libra
5. (Medieval Latin, New Latin) pound, any of various currencies derived from the use of pound as a weight in silver

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	lībra	lībrae
genitive	lībrae	lībrārum
dative	lībrae	lībrīs
accusative	lībram	lībrās
ablative	lībrā	lībrīs
vocative	lībra	lībrae

Synonyms

• (Roman unit of mass): lb.
• (units of currency): £

Coordinate terms

• (Roman unit of mass): uncia (¹⁄₁₂ libra)
• (English unit of mass): uncia (¹⁄₁₆ libra)

Derived terms

• aequilībrium
• lībrātiō
• lībrō
• sēlībra

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: libra, libbra, lira
    • → Catalan: lira
    • → Czech: lira
    • → Danish: lire
      • → Faroese: liri
    • → English: lira
    • → Finnish: liira
    • → German: Lira
    • → Galician: lira
    • → Māori: rira
    • → Malay: lira
    • → Maltese: lira
    • → Norwegian: lira
    • → Portuguese: lira
    • → Serbo-Croatian: lira
    • → Spanish: lira
    • → Turkish: lira
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Piedmontese: livra
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: lliura
  • Old French: livre m
    • Middle French: livre
      • French: livre
        • Louisiana Creole: liv
        • → English: livre
        • → Romanian: livră
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese:
    • Galician: libra
    • Portuguese: libra
  • Spanish: libra
    • → Tagalog: libra

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.braː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.bra]

Verb

lībrā

1. second-person singular present active imperative of lībrō

Further reading

• “libra”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “libra”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "libra", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “libra”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to make extracts from Cicero's writings: aliquid, multa ex Ciceronis libris excerpere (not excerpere librum)
    
• “libra”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• libra in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “libra”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin libra (“Roman pound”). Doublet of arrátel. In reference to the English unit, a calque of English pound. Cognate with Galician and Spanish libra and Catalan lliura.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈli.bɾɐ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈli.bɾɐ/ [ˈli.βɾɐ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈli.bɾɐ/ [ˈli.βɾɐ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈli.bɾɐ/

• Rhymes: -ibɾɐ
• Hyphenation: li‧bra

Noun

libra f (plural libras)

1. English or American pound, a unit of mass equal to 454 g
2. pound, British and other currencies derived from the use of a pound as a weight in silver
3. (historical) libra, Portuguese pound, a traditional unit of mass usually equivalent to 345 g and chiefly used for trade in medicines
4. (historical) synonym of arrátel, Portuguese pound, a traditional unit of mass usually equivalent to 460 g

Coordinate terms

• (English unit of mass): onça (¹⁄₁₆ libra), tonelada (2,000 or 2,240 libras)
• (Portuguese unit of mass): oitava (usually ¹⁄₇₂ libra), onça (usually ¹⁄₁₂ libra), quarta (usually ¹⁄₃ libra), marco (usually ²⁄₃ libra), arrátel (1+¹⁄₃ libras)

Further reading

• “libra”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “libra”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlibɾa/ [ˈli.β̞ɾa]
• Rhymes: -ibɾa
• Syllabification: li‧bra

Etymology 1

From Latin libra (“Roman pound, scale”). Doublet of lira. In reference to the English unit, a calque of English pound. Cognate with Galician and Portuguese libra and Catalan lliura.

Noun

libra f (plural libras)

1. English or American pound avoirdupois (a unit of mass equivalent to 453.6 g)
2. (historical) libra, Spanish pound (a traditional unit of mass equivalent to about 460 g)
3. British pound (the currency of the United Kingdom and its dependencies, originally notionally equivalent to a pound of stirling silver)

   Synonym: libra esterlina

4. (chiefly historical) pound (various other currencies originally notionally equivalent to a pound of gold or silver)

Coordinate terms

• (English unit of mass): grano (¹⁄₇₀₀₀ libra), onza (¹⁄₁₆ libra), tonelada (2,000 or 2,240 libras)
• (Spanish unit of mass): grano (¹⁄₉₂₁₆ libra), onza (¹⁄₁₆ libra), cuarterón (¹⁄₄ libra), marco (¹⁄₂ libra), arroba (25 libras), quintal (100 libras), tonelada (2,000 libras)

Noun

libra m or f by sense (plural libras)

1. Libra (someone with the Libra star sign)

Related terms

• Libra

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

libra

1. inflection of librar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “libra”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026

Tagalog

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *leyH-der.

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰromder.

Proto-Italic *līðrā?

Latin lībra

Spanish librabor.

Tagalog libra

Borrowed from Spanish libra, from Latin lībra.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈlibɾa/ [ˈlib.ɾɐ]
• Rhymes: -ibɾa
• Syllabification: lib‧ra

Noun

libra (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜒᜊ᜔ᜇ)

1. pound (unit of mass or force/weight)

Related terms

• Libra

Anagrams

• Abril, ribal, baril