picul

American  

[pik-uhl] / ˈpɪk əl /

noun

1. (in China and Southeast Asia) a weight equal to 100 catties, or from about 133 to about 143 pounds avoirdupois (60–64 kilograms).

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picul British  

/ ˈpɪkəl /

noun

1. a unit of weight, used in China, Japan, and SE Asia, equal to approximately 60 kilograms or 133 pounds

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Etymology

Origin of picul

First recorded in 1580–90; from Malay pikull, the term for the maximum load that a man using a shoulder yoke can carry

Example Sentences

It had been very hard work, he said, but he had persuaded the men to give up their pepper at eleven dollars a picul.

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

The captains, he said, were paying ten dollars for a picul of pepper.

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

“Breaking out a picul of hemp” is analogous, colloquially, to “picking a bale of cotton.”

From The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by Blount, James H.

The only stock procurable here were hogs at ten dollars the picul, and water shipped off in China tank-boats at four and a half dollars the ton.

From The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido For the Suppression of Piracy by Keppel, Henry

As they fetch a price according to quality of from 6 to 35 dollars per picul, it is 620a matter of great importance to obtain the very highest qualities.

From Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the Austrian Navy. by Scherzer, Karl Ritter von