libra

See also: Libra and librá

English

Etymology

From Latin lībra. Doublet of lira and livre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaibrə/

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

Noun

libra (plural librae or libras)

1. (historical, Ancient Rome) A Roman unit of weight equal to about 327 grams.
2. Any of various units of weight in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries approximately equal to 460 grams or a little more than a US or UK pound.
3. Alternative spelling of libbra, an Italian unit of weight.

Further reading

• Ancient Roman measures of weight § Weight on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Dictionary of Units of Measurement

Anagrams

• Arbil, Baril, Blair, Bliar, Rabil, brail

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Czech

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

libra f

1. pound (unit of measure)
2. pound (currency)

Further reading

• libra in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• libra in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

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Italian

Noun

libra f (plural libre)

1. pound

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Latin

Etymology 1

A Mediterranean substrate word, original form something like Proto-Italic *līthra, *leithra (“pound”), surviving also in Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra), whence English litre.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈliː.bra/, [ˈlʲiː.bra]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.bra/, [ˈliː.bra]

Noun

lībra f (genitive lībrae); first declension

1. a Roman unit of measure, equal to twelve ounces; a pound (abbreviated lb.)
2. a pair of scales, balance
3. a level (a device for making horizontal)
4. (Medieval Latin, New Latin) Any of various units of weight and of currency, particularly the pound, livre, and libra.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lībra	lībrae
Genitive	lībrae	lībrārum
Dative	lībrae	lībrīs
Accusative	lībram	lībrās
Ablative	lībrā	lībrīs
Vocative	lībra	lībrae

Related terms

• lībrō
• lībrātiō

Descendants

• Catalan: lliura
• French: livre
  • → English: livre
• Galician: libra
• Italian: libra, libbra, lira
  • → Catalan: lira
  • → Czech: lira
  • → Danish: lire
    • → Faroese: liri
  • → English: lira
  • → Finnish: liira
  • → German: Lira
  • → Galician: lira
  • → Maori: rira
  • → Malay: lira
  • → Maltese: lira
  • → Norwegian: lira
  • → Portuguese: lira
  • → Serbo-Croatian: lira
  • → Spanish: lira
  • → Turkish: lira
• Piedmontese: livra
• Portuguese: libra
• Romanian: livră
• Spanish: libra
  • → Tagalog: libra

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈliː.braː/, [ˈlʲiː.braː]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.bra/, [ˈliː.bra]

Verb

lībrā

1. second-person singular present active imperative of lībrō

References

• libra in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• libra in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• libra in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• libra in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to make extracts from Cicero's writings: aliquid, multa ex Ciceronis libris excerpere (not excerpere librum)
    
• libra in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• libra in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• libra in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈli.βɾɐ/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈli.bɾɐ/

Noun

libra f (plural libras)

1. pound (unit of mass)
2. pound (unit of sterling or other currency)

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlibɾa/, [ˈliβɾa]

Etymology 1

From Latin libra. Doublet of lira.

Noun

libra f (plural libras)

1. pound (unit of mass or force/weight)
2. pound (unit of currency of the United Kingdom and its dependencies)

   Synonym: libra esterlina

Noun

libra m or f (plural libras)

1. Libra (someone with the Libra star sign)

Related terms

• Libra

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

libra

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of librar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of librar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of librar.

Further reading

• “libra” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

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Tagalog

Etymology

From Spanish libra, from Latin libra.

Noun

libra

1. pound (unit of mass or force/weight)