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

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

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

In 1896, for instance, the market price ran up to ₱35 per picul, whilst some small parcels exchanged hands at a figure so capriciously high that it cannot be taken as a quotation.

From The Philippine Islands by Foreman, John

The price of this manure varies with the quality from one dollar to three dollars the picul.

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