Picul
/ˈpɪkəl/noun
A historical Asian unit of weight, traditionally equal to 100 catties and varying by region.
Did you know?The picul was not perfectly uniform: its value varied across ports and periods, but in nineteenth-century international trade it was often treated as about 133 pounds, or 60 kilograms.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
PMP
*pikul
“To carry a load on the shoulder”
Classical Malay
Malay
pikul
“A shoulder-borne load; to carry on the shoulder”
Early Modern Period
Malay
pikul
“A customary unit of weight based on a carried load”
17th–18th Century
European trade English
picul
“A Southeast Asian unit of weight used in commercial records”
Modern English
English
picul
“A historical unit commonly approximated as 60 kilograms or 133 pounds”
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