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

See Examples For:

picul

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

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

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

Later, the price was advanced; until about 1900 the government paid fifteen florins per picul for coffee in parchment.

From All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

The cost of granulated sago, from the hands of the grower or producer, was, according to Mr. Crawfurd, only a dollar a picul.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by P. L. Simmonds

The two together amount on an average to about taels 1.50 per picul of 133½ ℔ or 3s. 9d. per cwt.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" by Various