quintal

quintal

See also: Quintal

English

Alternative forms

• quintale (chiefly Italian contexts)
• kintal, kintle, kantal, kental, kentle (dialectical)
• quintell, quintall, quintaile, quintail, kyntal, kyntall, kyntayl, kintall, kyntal, kentall, kentell (obsolete)

Etymology

Late Middle English, from Anglo-Norman quintal, from Middle French quintal, from Old French and Medieval Latin quintale and quintallus (“various medieval hundredweights”), from Arabic قِنْطَار‎ (qinṭār, “100 rottols”), from Classical Syriac ܩܰܢܛܺܝܪܳܐ‎ (qanṭīrā) and ܩܰܢܛܺܝܢܳܪܳܐ‎ (qanṭīnārā), from Byzantine Greek κεντηνάριον (kentēnárion), from Latin centēnārium (“100 Roman pounds”), from centēnārius (“having 100 things”) + -ium (“-ium: forming abstract nouns”). Use for various non-English units, borrowed from French quintal, Spanish quintal, Portuguese quintal, &c. The apparent relation to quint- (“five, fivefold”) and -al (“forming adjectives”) is accidental, although it possibly influenced the eventual spelling of the term. Doublet of centenary and kantar.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɪntl/, /ˈkwɪnl/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɪntl/, /ˈkwɪntəl/
• Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -ɪntəl

Noun

quintal (plural quintals)

1. (historical) Synonym of hundredweight, 100 or 112 English or American pounds.
   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, page 204:

     In one import license alone, the merchant in question was instructed to bring in 13,000 quintals of alum, which, snapped up by industries in England and the Low Countries, would yield the king a cool £8,666 13s 4d.

2. (historical) Various other similar units of weight in other systems.
3. An unofficial metric unit equal to 100 kg.

Usage notes

Historically, the value varied with local values of pounds by time, location, and substance. At the time of metricization, the French quintal was 49.951 kg, the Portuguese quintal was 58.75 kg, the Spanish quintal was 46.014 kg, and the Milanese quintal was 32.67 kg. The present metric quintal is not officially recognized as part of the metric system.

Coordinate terms

• (Spanish unit of mass): libra (1/100 quintal), arroba (¼ quintal), tonelada (20 quintals)
• (Portuguese unit of mass): arratel (¹⁄₁₂₈ quintal), arroba (¹⁄₄ quintal), quintalejo (¹⁄₂ quintal), tonelada (13+¹⁄₂ quintals)

Derived terms

• metric quintal

Translations

quintal of about 100 pounds in various systems — see hundredweight

metric quintal of 100 kg

Armenian: ցենտներ (hy) (cʿentner) Basque: kintal (eu) Bulgarian: центнер m (centner) Catalan: quintar (ca) m Finnish: sentaali (fi) French: quintal (fr) m Galician: quintal German: Quintal (de) m, Doppelzentner (de) m (Germany), Zentner (de) m (Austria, Switzerland), Dezitonne (de) f Hindi: क्विंटल m (kviṇṭal), कुंटल (hi) m (kuṇṭal), कुंतल (hi) m (kuntal) Hungarian: mázsa (hu) Italian: quintale (it) m Norman: tchînta m Portuguese: quintal (pt) Romanian: chintal (ro) n Russian: це́нтнер (ru) m (céntner) Spanish: quintal métrico (es) m, quintal (es) m Turkish: kental (tr) Volapük: kuin (vo)

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

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French

Etymology

From Old French quintal, from Medieval Latin quintāle (“various medieval hundredweights”), from Arabic قِنْطَار‎ (qinṭār, “100 rottols”), from Classical Syriac ܩܰܢܛܺܝܪܳܐ‎ (qanṭīrā) and ܩܰܢܛܺܝܢܳܪܳܐ‎ (qanṭīnārā), from Byzantine Greek κεντηνάριον (kentēnárion), from Latin centēnārium (“100 Roman pounds”), from centeni (“100 things”) + -ārius (“-ary: forming related adjectives”). Doublet of centenaire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɛ̃.tal/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

quintal m (plural quintaux)

1. quintal, a nonstandard metric unit of mass equivalent to exactly 100 kg
2. (historical) quintal, French hundredweight, a traditional unit of mass equivalent to about 49.95 kg

Further reading

• “quintal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Middle French

Etymology

From Old French quintal, from Medieval Latin quintāle (“various medieval hundredweights”), from Arabic قِنْطَار‎ (qinṭār, “100 rottols”), from Classical Syriac ܩܰܢܛܺܝܪܳܐ‎ (qanṭīrā) and ܩܰܢܛܺܝܢܳܪܳܐ‎ (qanṭīnārā), from Byzantine Greek κεντηνάριον (kentēnárion), from Latin centēnārium (“100 Roman pounds”), from centeni (“100 things”) + -ārius (“-ary: forming related adjectives”).

Noun

quintal m (plural quintaulx)

1. (historical) quintal, French hundredweight, a traditional unit of mass

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Old French

Etymology

From Medieval Latin quintāle (“various medieval hundredweights”), from Arabic قِنْطَار‎ (qinṭār, “100 rottols”), from Classical Syriac ܩܰܢܛܺܝܪܳܐ‎ (qanṭīrā) and ܩܰܢܛܺܝܢܳܪܳܐ‎ (qanṭīnārā), from Byzantine Greek κεντηνάριον (kentēnárion), from Latin centēnārium (“100 Roman pounds”), from centeni (“100 things”) + -ārius (“-ary: forming related adjectives”).

Noun

quintal m (oblique plural quintaus or quintax or quintals, nominative singular quintaus or quintax or quintals, nominative plural quintal)

1. (historical) quintal, French hundredweight, a traditional unit of mass

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kĩˈtaw/ [kĩˈtaʊ̯]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kĩˈtal/ [kĩˈtaɫ]

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: quin‧tal

Etymology 1

From Old Portuguese quintãal, from Vulgar Latin *quintanale; or from quinta +‎ -al.

Noun

quintal m (plural quintais)

1. yard (land around a house)

Etymology 2

From Medieval Latin quintāle (“various medieval hundredweights”), from Andalusian Arabic and Arabic قِنْطَار‎ (qinṭār, “100 rottols”), from Classical Syriac ܩܰܢܛܺܝܪܳܐ‎ (qanṭīrā) and ܩܰܢܛܺܝܢܳܪܳܐ‎ (qanṭīnārā), from Byzantine Greek κεντηνάριον (kentēnárion), from Latin centēnārium (“100 Roman pounds”). Doublet of centenário.

Noun

quintal m (plural quintais)

1. quintal, a nonstandard unit of mass equal to 100 kg
2. (historical) quintal, Portuguese hundredweight, a traditional unit of mass usually equivalent to 58.7 kg

Synonyms

• (metric unit): quintal métrico

Coordinate terms

• (historical unit): arrátel (¹⁄₁₂₈ quintal), arroba (¹⁄₄ quintal), quintalejo (¹⁄₂ quintal), tonelada (13+¹⁄₂ quintals)

Derived terms

• quintalejo, quintal métrico

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Spanish

Alternative forms

• qq (abbreviation)

Etymology

From Medieval Latin quintāle (“various medieval hundredweights”), from Andalusian Arabic and Arabic قِنْطَار‎ (qinṭār, “100 rottols”), from Classical Syriac ܩܰܢܛܺܝܪܳܐ‎ (qanṭīrā) and ܩܰܢܛܺܝܢܳܪܳܐ‎ (qanṭīnārā), from Byzantine Greek κεντηνάριον (kentēnárion), from Latin centēnārium (“100 Roman pounds”), from centeni (“100 things”) + -ārius (“-ary: forming related adjectives”). Doublet of centenario.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kinˈtal/ [kĩn̪ˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: quin‧tal

Noun

quintal m (plural quintales)

1. quintal, an unofficial metric unit of mass equal to exactly 100 kg
2. (chiefly historical) quintal, Spanish hundredweight, a traditional unit of mass equivalent to about 46 kg

Usage notes

Historically, the quintal varied by region, over time, and depending on the object being measured.

Derived terms

• quintal métrico

 

Related terms

• centena

Descendants

• Zoogocho Zapotec: quintal

Further reading

• “quintal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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Zoogocho Zapotec

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish quintal.

Noun

quintal

1. hundredweight

References

• Long C., Rebecca; Cruz M., Sofronio (2000) Diccionario zapoteco de San Bartolomé Zoogocho, Oaxaca (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 38)‎ (in Spanish), second electronic edition, Coyoacán, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 286