quintal

quintal · noun¹

1. Portuguese · borrowed fromquintal
2. Spanish · borrowed fromquintal
3. French · borrowed fromquintal
4. Latin · derived fromcentēnārium“100 Roman pounds”
5. Medieval Greek · derived fromκεντηνάριον
6. Classical Syriac · derived fromܩܰܢܛܺܝܪܳܐ
7. Arabic · derived fromقِنْطَار“100 rottols”
8. Medieval Latin · derived fromquintale
9. Middle French · derived fromquintal
10. Anglo-Norman · derived fromquintal
11. English todayquintal

Late Middle English, from Anglo-Norman quintal, from Middle French quintal, from Old French and Medieval Latin quintale and quintallus (“various medieval hundredweights”), from Arabic قِنْطَار (qinṭār, “100 rottols”), from Classical Syriac ܩܰܢܛܺܝܪܳܐ (qanṭīrā) and ܩܰܢܛܺܝܢܳܪܳܐ (qanṭīnārā), from Medieval Greek κεντηνάριον (kentēnárion), from Latin centēnārium (“100 Roman pounds”), from the neuter of centēnārius (“having 100 things”). Use for various non-English units, borrowed from French quintal, Spanish quintal, Portuguese quintal, etc. The apparent relation to quint- (“five, fivefold”) and -al (forming adjectives) is accidental, although it possibly influenced the eventual spelling of the term. Doublet of centenary, centner, and kantar.

quintal · noun, adjective²

From quint- (“five, fivefold”) + -al (forming adjectives).

Words from the same roots