Meanings
plural hundredweights · alternative abbreviation cwt.
- A measure of weight containing a hundred pounds, variously understood as
- CanadaUSA unit of measurement containing 100 avoirdupois pounds (about 45.4 kg).
Synonyms: short hundredweight, centner, cental, quintal
- UKhistoricalA unit of measurement containing 112 avoirdupois pounds (eight stone or about 50.8 kg).
The hundredweight of 112 avoirdupois lbs. becomes general in the period before me, and is employed for the commoner kinds of materials.
1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume IV, page 209 - historicalSynonym of quintal, a unit of measurement containing various amounts depending on the objects weighed.
Synonyms: quintal
- historicalVarious units of ancient measurement systems consisting of 100 units usually translated as "pounds".
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA unit of measurement containing 100 avoirdupois pounds (about 45.4 kg).
nounSynonym of quintal, a unit of measurement containing various amounts depending on the objects weighed.
112 lb. avoirdupois
historical units
More synonyms by meaning
nouna unit of weight equal to 100 kilograms in the metric system
nouna United States unit of weight equivalent to 100 pounds
nouna British unit of weight equivalent to 112 pounds
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
16th century, from hundred + weight.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic قِنْطَار
- قِنْطَار (qinṭār)unit of one hundred pounds
Bengali হন্দর
- হন্দর (hondor)unit of one hundred pounds
Bulgarian центнер
- центнер (centner)unit of one hundred pounds
Catalan quintar
- quintarunit of one hundred pounds
Finnish sentneri
- sentneriunit of one hundred pounds
French quintal
- quintalunit of one hundred pounds
German Zentner
- Zentnerunit of one hundred pounds
Hindi क्विंटल, कुंटल
- क्विंटल (kviṇṭal)unit of one hundred pounds
- कुंटल (kuṇṭal)unit of one hundred pounds
- कुंतल (kuntal)unit of one hundred pounds
Indonesian kuintal
- kuintalunit of one hundred pounds
Irish céad
- céadunit of one hundred pounds
Persian قنطار
- قنطار (qentâr)unit of one hundred pounds
Portuguese quintal
- quintalunit of one hundred pounds
Spanish quintal
- quintalunit of one hundred pounds
Turkish kental
- kentalunit of one hundred pounds
Welsh canpwys
- canpwysunit of one hundred pounds
Cite this entry
hundredweight. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hundredweight
“hundredweight.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hundredweight. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hundredweight,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hundredweight.
Source: hundredweight on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.