Why does pounds stand for pounds?

Answer 1

The letters Lb for pound come from a Latin word for an ancient Roman unit of weight, libra, which was equivalent to 327.45 grams. While adding the "s" isn't accurate ("libra" is a single pound, "librae" is plural - adding the "s" to pluralize the singular is an English convention), it is still widely done to indicate more than one pound of weight.

The pound, a unit of measurement incorrectly abbreviated as "lbs" in plural ("lb", short of Latin "Libra": scales/balance, is both singular and plural).

The unit is descended from the Roman libra (hence the abbreviation "lb"); the name pound is a Germanic adaptation of the Latin phrase libra pondo, 'a pound weight'.

Answer 2

The word "pound" comes from the Latin word pendere, meaning "to weigh". The Latin word libra means "scales, balances" and it also describes a Roman unit of mass similar to a pound. This is the origin of the abbreviation "lb" for the pound. Note also that "lbs" is incorrect for two reasons. One, it is not possible to make that Latin phrase plural by adding an "s." Second, we do not add "s" to pluralize any other abbreviated units of measure: inches is still just "in."; meters is just "m". Pounds is just "lb."

Answer 3

The abbreviation lb comes from the Latin word "libra", meaning "scales" or "balances". Generally speaking, it is incorrect to use the "plural form" lbs to mean "pounds", as the Latin plural of libra is also "libra" - therefore you would still use the abbreviation lb for more than one pound.

Answer 4

If I'm to be strictly accurate in my reply (which you may construe as being pedantic if you wish, but there's a serious point here) lbs isn't an abbreviation of "pounds". It's shorthand for "pounds weight" but isn't an abbreviation of the wordpounds.

The form lbis actually an abbreviation of the Latin word libra, which could mean a pound, itself a shortened form of the full expression, libra pondo, "pound weight". The second word of this phrase, by the way, is the origin of the English pound.

Answer 5

It comes from the Latin word libra, which means scales or balances.

Answer 6

Libra is the latin for a pound. Thus, Lb.
cause its latin,./for libra,./means weight,./take the l and b and add an s

Answer 7

In Latin 'Libra' are the symbol for the scales, hence the use of lb for weight (and lbs for the multiple),

Answer 8

its is Latin abbreviation