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

In the silk and paper manufactures too this omnipresent Agar-Agar paste plays so important a part, that above 500 piculs at $2 a picul, are annually imported from the Indian Archipelago.

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

In Province Wellesley—Trees in bearing, 1,073; not bearing, 6,566; produce in 1843, 1 picul, 13 catties; gross value 45 dollars.

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 Simmonds, P. L.

The cassia oil is rated at 150 dollars per picul, and the trade in this article reaches about 250,000 dollars.

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 Simmonds, P. L.