arpent

American  

[ahr-puhnt, ar-pahn] / ˈɑr pənt, arˈpɑ̃ /

noun

arpents plural

1. an old French unit of area equal to about one acre (0.4 hectare). It is still used in the province of Quebec and in parts of Louisiana.

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arpent British  

/ arpɑ̃, ˈɑːpənt /

noun

1. a former French unit of length equal to 190 feet (approximately 58 metres)

2. an old French unit of land area equal to about one acre: still used in Quebec and Louisiana

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• arpents
  plural

Etymology

Origin of arpent

1570–80; < Middle French < Latin arepennis half-acre < Gaulish; akin to MIr airchenn unit of area

Example Sentences

The corn-lands here rent for about fifteen livres the arpent.

From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Randolph, Thomas Jefferson

An arpent of land was 180 French feet square.

From The Winning of the West, Volume 1 From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1769-1776 by Roosevelt, Theodore

The arpent in modern France has varied greatly in different localities.

From A Source Book of Medi?val History Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the German Invasions to the Renaissance by Ogg, Frederic Austin

In general, in the regions of large farms, the proprietor obtains ten livres the arpent if the cultivation is very good, and three livres when ordinary.

From The Ancient Regime by Durand, John

An homme de vignes, which consists of seven hundred plants, three feet apart, yields generally about three quarters of a pi�ce, which is nearly four pi�ces to the arpent.

From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Randolph, Thomas Jefferson