ounce

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A unit of weight equal to about 28 grams, or one sixteenth of a pound.

   The recipe calls for four ounces of butter.

2. 2
   noun

   A very small amount of something.

   He didn't show an ounce of regret.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Ounce has two unrelated origins. The unit of weight comes from Latin uncia, “twelfth part,” referring to one-twelfth of a pound and also underlying inch as one-twelfth of a foot. Ounce as a name for the snow leopard comes from medieval French lonce: its initial l was mistaken for the French article le and dropped, while lonce itself ultimately goes back to Latin lynx.

From Middle English ounce, unce, from Middle French once, from Latin uncia (“Roman ounce, various similar units”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one”). Doublet of a, one, inch, uncia, onça, onza, oka, ouguiya, and awqiyyah.

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