tael
/teɪl/ noun
Forms taels tahil
- noun Any of several units of measure used in China and elsewhere in eastern Asia, approximately 40 grams, and metricated in Mainland China as exactly 50 grams.
- noun Any of several monetary units equal to the equivalent weight in silver.
- noun (Hong Kong) Leung, a traditional unit of weight, in modern usage legally defined as 1/16 of a catty or kan (斤) or 0.0377993638 kilograms
Etymology
From Portuguese tael, from Malay tahil. Doublet of tahil.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A denomination of money, in China, worth nearly six shillings sterling, or about a dollar and forty cents; also, a weight of one ounce and a third. [Written also tale.]
Etymology [Malay ta, a certain weight, probably fr. Hind. tola, Skr. tula a balance, weight, tul to weigh.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tael”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details