avoirdupois

US /ˌævɚdəˈpɔɪz/ UK /ˌævədəˈpɔɪz/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the system of weights based on a sixteen-ounce pound; informally, bodily weight

He had added considerable avoirdupois since their last meeting.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the system of weights based... weight heaviness heft

Etymology

From Anglo-French aver de peis ('goods of weight'), from Old French avoir ('property, goods', from Latin habere 'to have') + de + peis ('weight', from Latin pensum, from pendere 'to weigh').

habere Latin pendere Latin

View etymology graph ->

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# avoirdupois

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˌævɚdəˈpɔɪz/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌævədəˈpɔɪz/

## Meanings
1. the system of weights based on a sixteen-ounce pound; informally, bodily weight

## Examples
- He had added considerable avoirdupois since their last meeting.

## Synonyms
- weight
- heaviness
- heft

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: habere
- Root: pendere

## Etymology
From Anglo-French aver de peis ('goods of weight'), from Old French avoir ('property, goods', from Latin habere 'to have') + de + peis ('weight', from Latin pensum, from pendere 'to weigh').

## AI Etymology
avoirdupois comes from Anglo-French aver de peis ('goods of weight'), from Old French avoir ('property, goods', from Latin habere 'to have') + de + peis ('weight', from Latin pensum, from pendere 'to weigh'). Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the noun sense is "the system of weights based on a sixteen-ounce pound; informally, bodily weight", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. Its nearest semantic neighbors include weight, heaviness, heft, but the etymology gives the word its own historical profile within that field. The principal historical forms in the chain include Latin habere, Latin pendere, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- Abstract Ideas

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