Pounds vs. Lbs.???

[Displayhawk]

A friend of mine has a very inquisitive 8-year old daughter, and she asked why the abreviation for pounds is Lbs. and not Pds???
Can anybody help me out here???

[Robert Fogt]

lb is short for libra, which is the latin word for the Roman version of the pound.

The symbol pd is used for per diem, a unit of frequency meaning once per day.

[Unregistered]

Thanks for the definition. Although, I think my co-worker is reluctant to tell his daughter that. He is afraid that there will be a lot more questions! LOL
Thanks again!

[mariod49]

By international convention, lb is a unit of measure and thus does not have a plural. So stricly speaking it is incorrect to write 10 lbs; it should be 10 lb without the 's'. This rule applies to all units of measure as, for example, gram whose symbol is 'g'; you wouldn't write 'gs' for grams.

[Unregistered]

A friend of mine has a very inquisitive 8-year old daughter, and she asked why the abreviation for pounds is Lbs. and not Pds???
Can anybody help me out here???
I dont know either thats what i am looking for but i cant find it

[Robert Fogt]

I dont know either thats what i am looking for but i cant find it

lb is short for libra, which is the latin word for the Roman version of the pound.

[Unregistered]

A friend of mine has a very inquisitive 8-year old daughter, and she asked why the abreviation for pounds is Lbs. and not Pds???
Can anybody help me out here???
i know why: the greek word limbs was used for pounds a long time ago. they kept the abbriveation, but changed limbs to pounds. i don't know why!

[Unregistered]

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. The “s” at the end of “lbs” simply denotes the plural form.

[Unregistered]

Oy. Thanks to those whose answers seem to have fallen on deaf ears...
(PS As already stated, lbs. is incorrect, although it has been gaining acceptance in the world of sloppy usage...)

[cassadea]

hi im doing a report on lb. and pounds i think the word comes from the latin word libra which is also the name of a costilation . the constilation is af a scale .( my teacher sad this is to complicated for me since im only in 6th grade.) :)

[Unregistered]

convert 25 LSB SQ FT to pounds SQ FT

[Robert Fogt]

convert 25 LSB SQ FT to pounds SQ FT

Probably a typo. No such thing as LSB, you probably meant lbs.

lbs is pounds. No conversion necessary.

[DOM_peon]

The word pound and its abbreviation "lb" comes from latin words "libra pondo"
Where as what previous posts said that it is said when weighted scale is balanced. The abbreviation is used globally as "lb", whereas the pondo is used and translated to "pound" in US.

Later, the word "pound" is widely known and spread globally, but the abbreviation remain unchanged.

[Unregistered1]

Thank you very much for all above.

[Unregistered]

You may also like to know that it seems the word "Ounce" and its abbreviation "oz." comes from the Latin "Uncia", which was one twelfth of a Libra.

[Unregistered]

The letters Lb for pound come from a Latin word for an ancient Roman unit of weight, librae, which was equivalent to 327.45 grams.

[Unregistered]

A friend of mine has a very inquisitive 8-year old daughter, and she asked why the abreviation for pounds is Lbs. and not Pds???
Can anybody help me out here???

because lb comes from libra pondo which is latin:-)

[Unregistered]

Can anyone tell me if you can use the # sign for pounds? I don't believe it should be used that way because it is not the correct way to put it. I believe lbs is the correct way to use it.

[JohnS]

Can anyone tell me if you can use the # sign for pounds? I don't believe it should be used that way because it is not the correct way to put it. I believe lbs is the correct way to use it.

The "#" is frequently used in the US for pound (weight), never for the unit of currency. "lb" may be used as either singular or plural but "lbs" is also used as plural.

Edit: Wikipedia says about the number sign:
The mainstream use in the U.S. as follows: when it precedes a number, it is read as "number", as in "a #2 pencil" (spoken aloud as: "a number two pencil"); however, when it follows a number it is read as "pounds" referring to the unit of weight, as in "5# of sugar" (spoken aloud as "five pounds of sugar"). The first form is more widely used by the general population while the second form is more specifically used in the food service and grocery/produce industries, or other fields where units of pounds (as weight) need to be hand-written frequently or repetitively.

It goes on to say the use to denote pounds of weight is NOT common in the UK. It mostly likely would not be common in other Commeonwealth countries.

[Unregistered]

how can that be complicated for 6th grade...i think i've done this in 3rd of 4th grade

[Unregistered]

Nice to know that there are some educated people out there. I have seen "lbs." used in many places by people who ought to know better. Yes, all the posts here that describe "lb." as a Latin abbreviation are correct, although I was taught that the Latin is "librum." Like the word "cherubim" in the Bible, it means both singular and plural. So, to use "lbs." is like saying "poundses." Quite unnecessary. Sadly, I must also agree that the incorrect version is in widespread usage, and before too long, it may be considered an acceptable alternate spelling. Next question: how many of you out there know the difference between "fewer" and "less," or between "farther" and "further?"

[Unregistered]

Have you ever wondered why we use the symbol 'lb' for the 'pounds' unit? 'pound' is short for 'pound weight' which was libra pondo in Latin. The libra part meant both weight or balance scales. The Latin usage was shortened to libra, which naturally was abbreviated 'lb'. We adopted the pound part from pondo, yet kept the abbreviation for libra.

[Unregistered]

Before I answer this, let me say that I have a BS in English, with a special interest in Linguistics, editing, and grammar.

There is a common misconception that lbs. means pounds. If you go back to the Latin, from where we got the abbreviation in the first place, we got both the abbreviation and the word "pounds" from the same phrase. the Latin phrase was "libra pondo." Libra means both weight or a balance scale, like the kind used in the astrological sign of the same name. the Latin usage became simply "libra," which over time became simply lb. Note that there IS NO S. To put an s after it is like saying "poundses." Latin denoted plurals with -um or -im. Think about the use of cherubim in the Bible. This means more than one cherub. So, the abbreviation lb. can be used to denote both singular and plural. I admit, sometimes you will see packaging that says, "lbs." Just realize that the people who wrote that are not as smart as you are now.

[Engineer]

A friend of mine has a very inquisitive 8-year old daughter, and she asked why the abreviation for pounds is Lbs. and not Pds???
Can anybody help me out here???

That is for the latin word Libra.
Also, to write 's' at the end is an error, is not corret, but is such a common error that everybody does it, so now, sadly, everybody understood what someone is talking about when reads 'Kgs' or 'Lbs' or 'Kms' :(

[JohnS]

That is for the latin word Libra.
Also, to write 's' at the end is an error, is not corret, but is such a common error that everybody does it, so now, sadly, everybody understood what someone is talking about when reads 'Kgs' or 'Lbs' or 'Kms' :(

On the metric units, there is somebody in charge (BIPM) and they write the rules (The SI Brochure). For metric units, the word is pluralized if appropriate, but the symbol is invariate and never pluralized; a period is never used (unless at the end of a sentence).

For the foot-pound system, nobody is in charge, so everybody is in charge; opinions are a dime a dozen. My Webster's dictionary allows either lb or lbs for pounds; periods following either abbreviation are optional. For packaging, the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA) allows lb or lbs, with optional period. Other sources may be more restrictive, but those two sources carry some weight.

As to earlier"global" comments, remember that everyone else uses the kilogram. Only the US uses the pound, with some lingering use in the UK (where it is NOT a legal unit for trade, only supplemental information) and some Commonwealth countries. Since we are a BIG market, a lot of countries are willing to use the pound for product they export to the US (mostly because our laws require them to).

[Unregistered]

A friend of mine has a very inquisitive 8-year old daughter, and she asked why the abreviation for pounds is Lbs. and not Pds???
Can anybody help me out here???

thats the same here only 5 and a boy thanks for the question HAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHHAHHAHAH