{{Short description|Imperial unit of mass equal to 14 pounds}} {{About-distinguish|the European unit of mass|Stone (Chinese unit)}} {{use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox unit | name = Stone | image = BLW Wool Weight with the Royal Arms of England.jpg | caption = A 16th-century bronze 1-stone weight emblazoned with the English coat of arms | standard = British imperial | quantity = Mass | symbol = | extralabel = Abbreviation | extradata = st | units1 = | inunits1 = <!--...--> | units6 = | inunits6 = | units_imp1 = | inunits_imp1 = <!--...--> | units_imp6 = | inunits_imp6 = | units_us1 = | inunits_us1 = <!--...--> | units_us6 = | inunits_us6 = }}

The '''stone''' or '''stone weight''' (abbreviation: '''st.''')<ref>{{Citation |title=Concise Oxford Dictionary |contribution=stone |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1964}}.</ref> is an English and British imperial unit of mass equal to 14 avoirdupois pounds (≈6.35&nbsp;kg).{{refn|group=nb|Per the 1959 International Yard and Pound Agreement,<ref name="Standards1959">{{cite book|author=United States. National Bureau of Standards|author-link=National Institute of Standards and Technology|title=Research Highlights of the National Bureau of Standards|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4aWN-VRV1AoC&pg=PA13|year=1959|publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards|page=13}}</ref><ref>National Bureau of Standards, [http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP447/app8.pdf Appendix 8] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090118111241/http://www.physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP447/app8.pdf |date=2009-01-18}}.</ref><ref>National Physical Laboratory, P. H. Bigg & al. ''[http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0508-3443/13/9/305 Re-determination of the values of the imperial standard pound and of its parliamentary copies in terms of the international kilogramme during the years 1960 and 1961]''</ref><ref>Sizes.com: ''[http://www.sizes.com/units/pound_avoirdupois.htm pound avoirdupois].''</ref> adopted by the United Kingdom in 1963.<ref>Weights and Measures Act of 1963.</ref> Prior to that agreement, various minor differences existed between national standards and their conversions to the metric system.}} The stone continues in customary use in the United Kingdom and Ireland for body weight.

England and other Germanic-speaking countries of Northern Europe formerly used various standardised "stones" for trade, with their values ranging from about 5 to 40&nbsp;local pounds (2.3 to 18.1&nbsp;kg) depending on the location and objects weighed. With the advent of metrication, Europe's various "stones" were superseded by or adapted to the kilogram from the mid-19th century onward.

==Antiquity== [[File:Weight-stone.jpg|thumb|Stone weight with Darius the Great–era tri-lingual inscription. 9,950g ]] [[File:RomanStoneWeight.jpg|thumb|upright|The Eschborn Museum's 2nd-century stone weight of 40 Roman pounds (c.&nbsp;13&nbsp;kg), beside an ID-1-sized card for scale]] The name "stone" derives from the historical use of stones for weights, a practice that dates back into antiquity. The Biblical law against the carrying of "diverse weights, a large and a small"<ref>{{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|25:13|KJV}}</ref> is more literally translated as "you shall not carry a stone and a stone ({{lang|he|אבן ואבן}}), a large and a small". There was no standardised "stone" in the ancient Jewish world,<ref>{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ocAVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA501 |title = The Pictorial Bible; being the Old and New Testaments according to the Authorised Version ... to which are added Original Notes |location = London |publisher = Charles Knight & Co |year = 1836 }}</ref> but in Roman times stone weights were crafted to multiples of the Roman pound.<ref>{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=m3JZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA107 |title = Antiquity explained, and represented in sculptures, Volumes 3-4 |first1 = Bernard |last1 = de Montfaucon |first2 = David |last2 = Humphreys |pages = 107–109 |year = 1722 |location = London}}</ref> Such weights varied in quality: the Yale Medical Library holds 10- and 50-pound examples of polished serpentine,<ref>for example:<br />{{cite journal |title = Two Remarkable Roman Stone Weights in the Edward C. Streeter Collection at the Yale Medical Library |first1 = Bruno |last1 = Kisch |journal = Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences |year = 1956 |volume = XI |number = 1 |pages = 97–100 |doi=10.1093/jhmas/xi.1.97|pmid = 13295580 }}</ref> while a 40-pound example at the Eschborn Museum is made of sandstone.<ref>A Roman stone weight of 40 librae is on exhibition in the Eschborn town museum (Germany). Retrieved 12 March 2012</ref>

==Great Britain and Ireland== The 1772 edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' defined the stone:<ref name="eb1772">Encyclopædia Britannica Vol III, Edinburgh{{spaced ndash}}1772.</ref><blockquote>STONE also denotes a certain quantity or weight of some commodities. A stone of beef, in London, is the quantity of eight pounds; in Hertfordshire, twelve pounds; in Scotland sixteen pounds.</blockquote>

The Weights and Measures Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 74), which applied to all of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, consolidated the weights and measures legislation of several centuries into a single document. It revoked the provision that bales of wool should be made up of 20&nbsp;stones, each of 14&nbsp;pounds, but made no provision for the continued use of the stone. Ten years later, a stone still varied from 5&nbsp;pounds (glass) to 8&nbsp;pounds (meat and fish) to 14&nbsp;pounds (wool and "horseman's weight").<ref name="Gregory">{{cite book | title=Mathematics for Practical Men | publisher=E. L. Carey and A. Hart | author=Gregory, Olinthus | year=1834 | location=Philadelphia | pages=[https://archive.org/details/mathematicsforp03greggoog/page/n34 21] | url=https://archive.org/details/mathematicsforp03greggoog}}</ref> The Weights and Measures Act 1835 permitted using a stone of 14&nbsp;pounds for trade<ref name="Poppy">{{cite conference |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4F0iAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA46 |title = The Development of Weights and Measures Control in the United Kingdom |first1 = TG |last1 = Poppy |date= 4 June 1957 |publisher= US Department of Commerce – National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) |book-title=Report of the National Conference on Weights and Measures, Volumes 41-45 |pages= 22–34 |conference = Forty-second National Conference on Weights and Measures |location=Washington DC }}</ref> but other values remained in use. James Britten, in 1880 for example, catalogued a number of different values of the stone in various British towns and cities, ranging from 4&nbsp;lb to 26&nbsp;lb.<ref>{{cite book |title = A Dictionary of Weights and Measures for the British Isles |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0l_k-XMIiQIC&q=stone |publisher = American Philosophical Society |year = 1985 |volume = 168 |pages = 391–398 |first1 = Ronald Edward |last1 = Zupko|isbn = 9780871691682}}</ref> The value of the stone and associated units of measure that were legalised for purposes of trade were clarified by the Weights and Measures Act 1835 as follows:<ref name=Poppy/> {| class="wikitable" ! Equivalent<br>in pounds ! Name of unit ! Equivalent<br>in stone ! Approx.<br>equivalent<br>in kg |- |- align="center" |1 |1 pound |{{fract|1|14}} |0.4536 |- |- align="center" |14 |'''1 stone''' |1 |6.350 |- |- align="center" |28 |1 quarter |2 |12.70 |- |- align="center" |112 |1 hundredweight |8 |50.80 |- |- align="center" |2,240 |1 (long) ton |160 |1,016 |}

===England=== The English stone under law varied by commodity and in practice varied according to local standards. The Assize of Weights and Measures, a statute of uncertain date from {{circa|lk=no|1300}}, describes stones of 5&nbsp;merchants' pounds used for glass; stones of 8&nbsp;lb. used for beeswax, sugar, pepper, alum, cumin, almonds,<ref name="tract">{{Citation |editor-last=Ruffhead |editor-first=Owen |editor-link=Owen Ruffhead |title=The Statutes at Large |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tKZFAAAAcAAJ |volume=&nbsp;I: From Magna Charta<!--sic--> to the End of the Reign of King Henry the Sixth. To which is prefixed, A Table of the Titles of all the Publick and Private Statutes during that Time |location=London |publisher=Mark Basket for the Crown |date=1763a |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tKZFAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA148 148–149] }}. {{in lang|en}}&nbsp;& {{in lang|la}}&nbsp;& {{in lang|nrf}}</ref> cinnamon, and nutmegs;<ref name="sotr">{{Citation |title=Statutes of the Realm |volume=I |date=1810 |location=London |publisher=G. Eyre & A. Strahan |page=204 }}</ref> stones of 12&nbsp;lb. used for lead; and the {{nowrap|'''London stone'''}} of {{frac|12|1|2}}&nbsp;lb. used for wool.<ref name=tract/><ref name=sotr/> In 1350 Edward III issued a new statute defining the stone weight, to be used for wool and "other Merchandizes", at 14 pounds,{{refn|group=nb|"that every Person do sell and buy by the Balance, so that the Balance be even, and the Woolls and other Merchandizes evenly weighed by the right Weight, so that the Sack of Wooll weigh no more but 26 Stones, and every Stone to weigh {{not a typo|14 l.}} [pounds] and that the Beam of the Balance do not bow more to the one Part than to the other; (3) and that the Weight be according to the Standard of the Exchequer. (4) And if any Buyer do the contrary, he shall be grievously punished, as well at the Suit of the Party, as at the Suit of our Lord the King."<ref>25 Edw. 3. Stat. 5. c. 9</ref>}} reaffirmed by Henry VII in 1495.<ref>Weights and Measures Act 1495 (11 Hen. 7. c. 4) §2 (1495)</ref>

[[File:Ewart's Improved Cattle Gauge.png|thumb|right|776px|A nineteenth-century slide rule for estimating cattle carcass weights, calibrated in stones of 20, {{frac|17|1|2}}, 8 and 14 pounds<ref>{{citation |pages=417–419 |title=A Cyclopedia of Agriculture, Practical and Scientific |volume=2 |publisher=Blackie and son |year=1855}}</ref>]] In England, merchants traditionally sold potatoes in half-stone increments of 7 pounds. Live animals were weighed in stones of 14&nbsp;lb; but, once slaughtered, their carcasses were weighed in stones of 8&nbsp;lb. Thus, if the animal's carcass accounted for {{fract|8|14}} of the animal's weight, the butcher could return the dressed carcasses to the animal's owner stone for stone, keeping the offal, blood and hide as his due for slaughtering and dressing the animal.<ref>{{cite journal |journal = Folklore |last1 =Newman |first1 = LF |page = 138 |title = Weights and Measures |jstor = 1259240 |publisher = Folklore Enterprises Ltd |volume = 65 |number = 3/4 |date = December 1954 |doi=10.1080/0015587x.1954.9717437|s2cid =165541893 }}</ref> Smithfield market continued to use the 8&nbsp;lb stone for meat until shortly before the Second World War.<ref>{{cite hansard |jurisdiction= United Kingdom|title=Meat Prices | url= https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1938/mar/01/meat-prices | house= House of Lords | date= 1 March 1938 | column_start= 901 | column_end= 902}}</ref> The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' also lists:<ref name="oed">''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st&nbsp;ed. "[http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50238294 stone, ''n.'', §14a"]. Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1917.</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Commodity ! Number of pounds |- | Wool | 14, 15, 24 |- | Wax | 12 |- | Sugar and spice | 8 |- | Beef and mutton | 8 |}

===Scotland=== The Scottish stone was equal to 16 Scottish pounds (17&nbsp;lb 8&nbsp;oz avoirdupois or 7.936&nbsp;kg). In 1661, the Royal Commission of Scotland recommended that the Troy stone be used as a standard of weight and that it be kept in the custody of the burgh of Lanark. The tron (or local) stone of Edinburgh, also standardised in 1661, was 16&nbsp;tron pounds (22&nbsp;lb 1&nbsp;oz avoirdupois or 9.996&nbsp;kg).<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.scan.org.uk/measures/weight.asp |title = Scottish Weights and Measures: Weight |work = SCAN Weights and Measures Guide: Background information about Scottish weights and measures |publisher = Scottish Archive Network |access-date = 8 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.scan.org.uk/measures/background.asp |title = Scottish Weights and Measures: Background |work = SCAN Weights and Measures Guide: Background information about Scottish weights and measures |publisher = Scottish Archive Network |access-date = 8 November 2011}}</ref> In 1789 an encyclopedic enumeration of measurements was printed for the use of "his Majesty's Sheriffs and Stewards Depute, and Justices of Peace,&nbsp;... and to the Magistrates of the Royal Boroughs of Scotland" and provided a county-by-county and commodity-by-commodity breakdown of values and conversions for the stone and other measures.<ref name="uniformity">{{cite book | title=A Proposal for Uniformity of Weights and Measures in Scotland by Execution of Laws Now in Force | publisher=Peter Hill | year=1789 | location=Edinburgh | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHhbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA14}}</ref> The Scots stone ceased to be used for trade when the Weights and Measures Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 74) established a uniform system of measure across the whole of the United Kingdom, which at that time included all of Ireland.<ref>{{cite book |title = Concise Scots Dictionary |editor = Mairi Robinson |page = 817 |chapter = Appendix – Scottish Currency, Weights and Measures |year = 2005 |orig-year = 1985 |location = Edinburgh |publisher = Edinburgh University Press Ltd |isbn = 1-902930-00-2}}</ref>

===Ireland=== Before the early 19th century, as in England, the stone varied both with locality and with commodity. For example, the ''Belfast stone'' for measuring flax equaled 16.75&nbsp;avoirdupois pounds.<ref name="Chaney">{{cite book | title=Our Weights and Measures | publisher=Eyre and Spottiswoode | author=Chaney, Henry J. | year=1897 | location=London | pages=[https://archive.org/details/ourweightsandme00changoog/page/n42 24] | url = https://archive.org/details/ourweightsandme00changoog}}</ref> The most usual value was 14&nbsp;pounds.<ref name="Wakefield">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=P54TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA202|pages = 197–202al |title = An account of Ireland, statistical and political |author = Edward Wakefield |volume = II |location = London |publisher = Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown |year = 1812}}</ref> Among the oddities related to the use of the stone was the practice in County Clare of a stone of potatoes being 16&nbsp;lb in the summer and 18&nbsp;lb in the winter.<ref name=Wakefield/>

===Modern use=== In 1965, the Federation of British Industry informed the British government that its members favoured adopting the metric system. The Board of Trade, on behalf of the government, agreed to support a ten-year metrication programme. There would be minimal legislation, as the programme was to be voluntary and costs were to be borne where they fell.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://ukma.org.uk/sites/default/files/met1972.pdf |title = White Paper on Metrication (1972) – Summary and Conclusions |publisher = Department of Trade and Industry Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate |at = para 42–455 |location = London}} </ref> Under the guidance of the Metrication Board, the agricultural product markets achieved a voluntary switchover by 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ukma.org.uk/sites/default/files/met1980.pdf |title = Final Report of the Metrication Board (1980) |publisher = Department of Trade and Industry Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate |at = Appendix A |location = London}}</ref> The stone was not included in the Directive 80/181/EEC as a unit of measure that could be used within the EEC for "economic, public health, public safety or administrative purposes",<ref name="EU">{{cite web | url = http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31980L0181:EN:NOT | author = The Council of the European Communities | title = Council Directive 80/181/EEC of 20 December 1979 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to Unit of measurement and on the repeal of Directive 71/354/EEC | date = 21 December 1979 | access-date = 7 February 2009}}</ref> though its use as a "supplementary unit" was permitted. The scope of the directive was extended to include all aspects of the EU internal market from 1 January 2010.<ref name="EU2">{{cite web | url = http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1980L0181:20090527:EN:PDF | author = The Council of the European Communities | title = Council Directive 80/181/EEC of 20 December 1979 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to Unit of measurement and on the repeal of Directive 71/354/EEC | date = 27 May 2009 | access-date = 14 September 2009}}</ref>

With the adoption of metric units by the agricultural sector, the stone was, in practice, no longer used for trade; and, in the Weights and Measures Act 1985, passed in compliance with EU directive 80/181/EEC,<ref name=EU/> the stone was removed from the list of units permitted for trade in the United Kingdom.<ref>[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/72/contents legislation.gov.uk: Weights and Measures Act 1985] Retrieved 2013-01-17.</ref><ref>{{Citation |editor-last=Fenna |editor-first=Donald |title=A Dictionary of Weights, Measures, and Units |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford }}.</ref><ref name="UK_Act">{{Cite legislation UK | type = act | year = 1985 | chapter = 72 | act = Weights and Measures Act 1985 }}</ref> In 1983, in response to the same directive, similar legislation was passed in Ireland.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1983/en/si/0235.html |title = S.I. No. 235/1983 – European Communities (Units of Measurement) Regulations, 1983. |publisher = Office of the Attorney General |access-date = 28 June 2012}}</ref> The act repealed earlier acts that defined the stone as a unit of measure for trade.<ref name=UK_Act/> (British law had previously been silent regarding other uses of the stone.)

{{anchor|human body weight}} The stone remains widely used in the United Kingdom and Ireland for human body weight: in those countries people may commonly be said to weigh, e.g., "11&nbsp;stone&nbsp;4" (11&nbsp;stones and 4&nbsp;pounds), rather than "72&nbsp;kilograms" as in most of the other countries, or "158&nbsp;pounds", the conventional way of expressing the same weight in the US and in Canada.<ref>Christine Hopkins, Ann Pope, Sandy Pepperell (2013). "Understanding Primary Mathematics". p. 195. Routledge.</ref> The invariant plural form of ''stone'' in this context is ''stone'' (as in, "11&nbsp;stone" or "12&nbsp;stone 6&nbsp;pounds"); in other contexts, the correct plural is ''stones'' (as in, "Please enter your weight in stones and pounds"). In Australia and New Zealand, metrication has entirely displaced stones and pounds since the 1970s.

In many sports in both the UK and Ireland, such as professional boxing, wrestling, and horse racing,<ref>{{cite web |url = http://info.hri-racing.ie/AssetLibrary/Files/RAS/LeftMenu/HRI_Directive_Book.pdf |title = HRI Directives |publisher = Horse Racing, Ireland |location = Ballymany, Curragh, Co Kildare |access-date = 21 July 2012}}</ref> the stone is used to express body weights.

==Elsewhere== The use of the stone in the former British Empire was varied. In Canada for example, it never had a legal status.<ref name="MacLean">{{cite conference |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4F0iAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA46 |title = A Central Program for Weights and Measures Canada |first1 = RW |last1 = MacLean |date= 4 June 1957 |publisher= US Department of Commerce – National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) |book-title=Report of the National Conference on Weights and Measures, Volumes 41–45 |pages= 44–49 |conference = Forty-second National Conference on Weights and Measures |location=Washington DC }}</ref> Shortly after the United States declared independence, Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State, presented a report on weights and measures to the U.S. House of Representatives. Even though all the weights and measures in use in the United States at the time were derived from English weights and measures, his report made no mention of the stone being used. He did, however, propose a decimal system of weights in which his "[decimal] pound" would have been {{convert|9.375|oz|g}} and the "[decimal] stone" would have been {{convert|5.8595|lb|kg}}.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/jeffplan.asp |title = Plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States |date = 13 July 1790 |first1 = Thomas |last1 = Jefferson}}</ref>

thumb|A depiction of a medieval German scale weighing bales of wool according to the local stone. Before the advent of metrication, units called "stone" ({{langx|de|Stein}}; {{langx|nl|steen}}; {{langx|pl|kamień}}) were used in many northwestern European countries.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Stone |volume= 25 |last= Bartlett |first= James |author-link= James Bartlett | pages = 958&ndash;960; see page 958; end of first para |quote= The " stone " has been a common measure of weight in north-western Europe. In Germany....}}</ref><ref name="Horace">{{cite book |title = Dictionnaire universel des poids et mesures anciens et modernes |first = Horace |last = Doursther |location = Bruxelles |publisher = M. Hayez |year = 1840 |url = https://archive.org/details/dictionnaireuni00dourgoog |quote = liege. |page = [https://archive.org/details/dictionnaireuni00dourgoog/page/n438 424]}}</ref> Its value, usually between 3 and 10&nbsp;kg, varied from city to city and sometimes from commodity to commodity. The number of local "pounds" in a stone also varied from city to city. During the early 19th century, states such as the Netherlands (including Belgium) and the South Western German states, which had redefined their system of measures using the {{lang|fr|kilogramme des Archives}} as a reference for weight (mass), also redefined their stone to align it with the kilogram.

This table shows a selection of stones from various northern European cities:

{| class="wikitable" |- ! City ! Modern country ! Term used ! Weight of<br/>stone in<br/>kilograms ! Weight of<br/>stone in<br/>local pounds ! Comments |- | rowspan = "2"|Dresden<ref name="NN1">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AkhTAAAAMAAJ |title = Vollständiges Taschenbuch der Münz-, Maass- und Gewichts-Verhältnisse [etc.] aller Länder und Handelsplätze |language = de |trans-title=Comprehensive pocketbook of money, weights and measures for all counties and trading centres |first1 = Christian |last1 = Noback |first2 = Friedrich Eduard |last2 = Noback |year = 1851 |volume = I |location = Leipzig |publisher = F. А. Brockhaus}}</ref> | rowspan = "2"|Germany | rowspan="2"|{{lang|de|Stein}} | 10.15 | 22 | Before 1841 |- | 10.0 | 20 | From 1841 onwards |- | rowspan = "2" |{{ubl|Mecklenburg-Strelitz<ref name = NN1 />|Berlin<ref name = NN1 />}} | rowspan = "2"| Germany | {{lang|de|schwerer Stein}} | 10.296 | 22 | heavy stone |- | {{lang|de|leichter Stein}} | 5.148 | 11 | light stone |- | rowspan = "2"|{{ubl|Danzig (Gdańsk)<ref name = NN1 />|Königsberg (Kaliningrad)<ref name = NN1 />}} | rowspan = "2"|{{ubl|Poland|Russia}} | {{lang|de|großer Stein}} | 15.444 | 33 | large stone |- | {{lang|de|kleiner Stein}} | 10.296 | 22 | small stone |- | rowspan = "2"| Bremen<ref name = NN1 /> | rowspan = "2"| Germany | {{lang|de|Stein Flachs}} | 9.97 | 20 | stone of flax |- | {{lang|de|Stein Wolle und Federn}} | 4.985 | 10 | stone of wool and feathers |- | rowspan = "2"| Oldenburg<ref name = NN1 /> | rowspan = "2"| Germany | {{lang|de|Stein Flachs}} | 9.692 | 20 | stone of flax |- | {{lang|de|Stein Wolle und Federn}} | 4.846 | 10 | stone of wool and feathers |- |Kraków<ref name = NN1 /> |Poland |{{lang|de|Stein}} |10.137 |25 | |- |Osnabrück<ref name = NN1 /> |Germany |{{lang|de|Stein}} |4.941 |10 | |- | rowspan = "2"|Amsterdam<ref name = NN1 /> | rowspan = "2"|Netherlands | rowspan = "2"|{{lang|de|steen}} |3.953 |8 |Before 1817 |- |3 |6 |"Metric stone" (after 1817) |- |Karlsruhe<ref name = NN1 /> |Germany |{{lang|de|Stein}} |5.00 |10 | |- |{{ubl|Leipzig<ref name = NN1 />|Weimar<ref name="NN2">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KEpTAAAAMAAJ |title = Vollständiges tasehenbuch der Münz-, Maass- und Gewichts-Verhältnisse etc. aller Länder und Handelsplätze |language = de |trans-title=Comprehensive pocketbook of money, weights and measures for all counties and trading centres |first1 = Christian |last1 = Noback |first2 = Friedrich Eduard |last2 = Noback |year = 1851 |volume = II |location = Leipzig |publisher = F. А. Brockhaus }}</ref>}} |Germany |{{lang|de|Stein}} |10.287 |22 | |- |Breslau (Wrocław)<ref name = NN1 /> |Poland |{{lang|de|Stein}} |9.732 |24 | |- |Antwerp<ref name = NN1 /> |Belgium |{{lang|de|steen}} |3.761 |8 | |- |Prague<ref name = NN2 /> |Czech Republic |{{lang|pl|kámen}}/{{lang|de|Stein}} |10.29 |20 | |- |Solothurn<ref name = NN1 /> |Switzerland |{{lang|de|Stein}} |5.184 |10 | |- |Stockholm<ref name = NN2/> |Sweden |{{lang|sv|sten}} |13.60 |32 |(32 Skålpund) |- |Warsaw<ref name = NN2 /> |Poland |{{lang|de|kamień}} |10.14 |25 | |- |Vilnius<ref name = NN2 /> |Lithuania |{{lang|lt|kamieni}} |14.992 |40 | |- |Vienna<ref name = NN2 /> |Austria |{{lang|de|Stein}} |11.20 |20 | |}

==Metric stone== In the Netherlands, where the metric system was adopted in 1817, the ''pond'' (pound) was set equal to half a kilogram, and the ''steen'' (stone), which had previously been 8 Amsterdam pond (3.953&nbsp;kg), was redefined as being 3&nbsp;kg.<ref name=Horace/> In modern colloquial Dutch, a ''pond'' is used as an alternative for 500&nbsp;grams or half a kilogram, while the ''ons'' is used for a weight of 100&nbsp;grams, being {{frac|1|5}}&nbsp;''pond''.

== See also == * English, imperial, and German units of measurement * Sack, a unit of wool equal to 28 stone

==Notes== {{Reflist|group=nb}}

==References== {{Reflist|33em}}

== External links == {{EB1911 poster|Stone}} * [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1995/Uksi_19951804_en_2.htm UK: The Units of Measurement Regulations 1995] * [https://www.britannica.com/science/stone-unit-of-weight "Stone" entry on the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'']

{{Imperial units}}

Category:Units of mass Stone (weight) Category:Imperial units