Pound
/paʊnd/noun
A unit of weight or currency, and also a verb meaning to strike repeatedly.
Did you know?The money sense of pound comes from Latin *libra pondo* (“a pound by weight”), while the verb sense is from a different Old English word meaning “to beat or crush,” so the modern word is a collision of separate histories.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pleh₂-
“to weigh, balance”
Latin
Latin
libra pondo
“a pound by weight”
Late Latin
Latin
pondo
“by weight”
Old English
Old English
punian
“to pound, beat, or bruise”
Middle English
English
pounde
“to strike repeatedly; a unit of weight”
Modern English
English
pound
“a unit of weight or currency; to strike repeatedly”