tael
Pluraltaels
- 1A weight unit used in China and nearby parts of Asia, about 40 grams.
Like an ounce, but used in parts of Asia to weigh things like tea and herbs.
Each tael of tea was carefully measured on the brass scale.
The merchant weighed out three taels of dried herbs for the customer.
Note
- 2An old unit of money in parts of Asia, worth the same as that weight in silver.
Like paying with a lump of silver instead of counting coins.
A single tael could buy a month's worth of rice in those days.
The land was sold for fifty taels of silver.
Note
- 3A traditional weight equal to one sixteenth of a catty, about 38 grams.
Like a small measuring weight used at a herbal medicine shop.
The herbalist measured out one tael of ginseng for the remedy.
Sixteen of these taels make up one catty on the shop's scale.
Note
Practice
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Origin
From Portuguese "tael", which came from the Malay word "tahil".