chilogramme

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A form of kilogram — In the International System of Units, the base unit of mass; conceived of as the mass of one litre of water, but now defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the Planck constant h to be 6.626 070 15 × 10⁻³⁴ when expressed in units of kg⋅m²⋅s⁻¹. Symbol: kg

Scrabble 21

Meanings

nounchilogramme (plural chilogrammes)

plural chilogrammes

  1. obsoleteObsolete form of kilogram.

    A. 20. Signor Lana. / The Sardinian standards have been compared with the metre and the chilogramme.

    1840, Extracts of Papers Printed and Manuscript, Laid Before the Commission Appointed to Consider the Steps to Be Taken for Restoration of the Standards of Weight and Measure, and the Subjects Connected Therewith, London: W. Clowes & Sons, page 3
    5 more examples

    The distillation is continued by putting fire under the retort; and as soon as two chilogrammes have passed over, another ten chilogrammes of fresh alcohol at 40 degrees are introduced into the mixture, drop by drop, regulating as much as possible the quantity introduced, by that which passes into the receiver. This process is to be continued until there have been drawn off 15 chilogrammes of liquid, which will give, on being rectified in the water bath, 8 chilogrammes of pure ether, and some alcohol of an ethereal scent very proper to be made use of over again.

    1809, The Repertory of Arts, Manufactures, and Agriculture, volume XV, London, page 118

    It appears, however, from an official Report, obligingly communicated to us by Dr. Kelly, that the actual standard chilogramme has been found to contain only 15433 English grains.

    1821, Alexander Tilloch, The Philosophical Magazine and Journal: Comprehending the Various Branches of Science, the Liberal and Fine Arts, Geology, Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce, volume LVII, London: Richard and Arthur Taylor, page 421

    The Gramme is equal to 15.434 grains Troy, / […] / A chilogramme is 1000 grammes, = 15434.0000 / A myriagramme is 10000 grammes, = 154340.0000 / All the preceding French weights and measures are deduced from some decimal proportion of the metre. Thus, the chilogramme corresponds wit the contents of a cubic vessel of pure water at the lowest temperature, the side of which vessel is the tenth part of the metre, (the decimetre,) and the gramme answers to the like contents of a cubic vessel, the side of which is the hundredth part of the metre, (the centimetre;) for the contents of all cubic vessels are to each other in the triplicate ratio of their sides.

    1840, The Merchants’ Magazine, and Commercial Review, volume I, New York, page 258

    If a chilogramme (kilogramme) of water fall through 772 feet, its temperature will rise one degree Fahrenheit. To discover, then, from what greater height a chilogramme of water must fall to raise its temperature to one degree centigrade, the following proportion will suffice:—100 : 180 : : 772 : 1389.6. But 1389 feet are equal to 423 metres; thus the mechanical equivalent of heat, according to the French system, is 423 metres, by falling through which a chilogramme of water rises through one degree centigrade. […] In the ascending scale a thousand grammes is called a kilogramme or chilogramme. The chilogramme is something less than 2+¹⁄₄ lb. imperial, or consists of 15432.3 English grains. The chilogramme is the commercial unit of weight in France, as the gramme is the basis of scientific weights.

    1867, Physiology at the Farm in Aid of Rearing and Feeding the Live Stock, Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, pages 599, 614

    Six weights in she-goat forms with a ring on their back; they were used to weigh the meat of this animal. The largest is worth our chilogramme. (Pompeii).

    1876, V. J., transl., A New General Hand-book to the National Museum in Naples According to Its Latest Arrangement with an Appendix Relative to Pompeii and a Vade Mecum to the Certosa of S. Martino, Naples: Cav. Gennaro De Angelis and son, translation of original by Achilles Migliozzi, page 281
Cite this entry
APA

chilogramme. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chilogramme

MLA

“chilogramme.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chilogramme. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chilogramme,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chilogramme.

Source: chilogramme on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.