libra

From Latin lībra (“pound”), partially via Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese libra. Doublet of arratel, libbra, Libra, lira, litra, litre, livre, and rottol.

• IPA^(key): /ˈliːbrə/, /ˈlaɪbrə/

• Audio (Canada):

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libra (plural libras or (Roman contexts) librae)

1. (historical) A Roman unit of mass, usually equivalent to 327 g.
2. (historical) A traditional Spanish unit of mass, usually around 460 g.
3. (historical) A traditional Portuguese unit of mass, usually equivalent to 345 g and particularly used for trade in medicines.
4. (historical) Synonym of arratel, a separate Portuguese unit of mass, usually around 460 g.
5. (historical) Alternative spelling of libbra, a traditional Italian unit of mass.
6. (historical) Synonym of pound, a notional pound of silver as a money of account, especially in medieval contexts.

• (Roman unit of mass): Roman pound, pound (Roman contexts)
• (Spanish unit of mass): Spanish pound, pound (Spanish contexts)
• (Portuguese unit of mass): Portuguese pound, pound (Portuguese contexts, but more often used for the arratel)

• (Roman unit of mass): uncia (¹⁄₁₂ libra)
• (Spanish unit of mass): onza (¹⁄₁₆ libra), cuarteron (¹⁄₄ libra), marco (¹⁄₁ libra), arroba (25 libras), quintal (100 libras), tonelada (2,000 libras)
• (Portuguese unit of mass): oitava (usually ¹⁄₇₂ libra), onça (usually ¹⁄₁₂ libra), quarta (usually ¹⁄₃ libra), marco (usually ²⁄₃ libra), arratel (usually 1+¹⁄₃ libras)

• Dictionary of Units of Measurement

• Arbil, Baril, Blair, Bliar, Rabil, brail

libra

1. indefinite nominative/accusative plural of libër

From Latin libra

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɪbra]

• Audio:

  (file)

libra f

1. pound (unit of measure)
2. pound (currency)

• “libra”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “libra”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

From Old Galician-Portuguese livra, attested in the 13th-century Cantigas de Santa Maria, from Latin libra (“Roman pound”). Doublet of lira. In reference to the English unit, a calque of English pound. Cognate with Portuguese and Spanish libra and Catalan lliura.

• IPA^(key): [ˈliβɾɐ]

libra f (plural libras)

1. English or American pound, a unit of mass equivalent to 453.6 g
2. (historical) Galician pound, a unit of mass equivalent to about 575 g
3. (historical) libra, Spanish pound, a unit of mass equivalent to about 460 g
4. British pound, a unit of British currency originally notionally equal to a pound of sterling silver

   Synonym: libra esterlina

5. (chiefly historical) pound, other similar currencies originally notionally equal to a pound of gold or silver

• (Galician pound): onza (¹⁄₂₀ libra)
• (Spanish pound): onza (¹⁄₁₆ libra)

libra m or f by sense (plural libras)

1. Libra (someone with the Libra star sign)

• Libra

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “libra”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “libra”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “libra”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “libra”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “libra”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

libra

1. inflection of librar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• IPA^(key): /ˈli.bra/
• Rhymes: -ibra
• Hyphenation: lì‧bra

libra f (plural libre)

1. pound

Of uncertain origin. The word's original form was something like Proto-Italic *līðrā, *leiðrā (“pound”), surviving also in Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra), whence English liter.^[1]

Weiss derives the term from Proto-Indo-European *leyH- (“to pour”) suffixed with the instrumental/resultative suffix *-dʰrom, under the assumption that the term originally meant "pouring (of metal)" before evolving to mean a unit of weight.^[2] In this case, then cognate with Proto-Slavic *lìti (“to pour”), Proto-Celtic *liyeti (“to flow”), Ancient Greek λείβω (leíbō, “to pour”), Lithuanian li̇́eti (“to let flow”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.bra]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.bra]

lībra f (genitive lībrae); first declension

1. (historical) libra, Roman pound, a Roman unit of mass, equivalent to about 327 g
2. scales, a tool used to balance two weights to measure amounts
3. level, a tool used to check surfaces for horizontal and vertical alignment
4. (Medieval Latin, New Latin) pound, any of various units of mass derived from or roughly equivalent to the Roman libra
5. (Medieval Latin, New Latin) pound, any of various currencies derived from the use of pound as a weight in silver

First-declension noun.

• (Roman unit of mass): lb.
• (units of currency): £

• (Roman unit of mass): uncia (¹⁄₁₂ libra)
• (English unit of mass): uncia (¹⁄₁₆ libra)

• lībrō
• lībrātiō
• sēlībra

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.braː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.bra]

lībrā

1. second-person singular present active imperative of lībrō

• “libra”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “libra”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "libra", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “libra”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to make extracts from Cicero's writings: aliquid, multa ex Ciceronis libris excerpere (not excerpere librum)
    
• “libra”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• libra in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “libra”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

From Latin libra (“Roman pound”). Doublet of arrátel. In reference to the English unit, a calque of English pound. Cognate with Galician and Spanish libra and Catalan lliura.

libra f (plural libras)

1. English or American pound, a unit of mass equal to 454 g
2. pound, British and other currencies derived from the use of a pound as a weight in silver
3. (historical) libra, Portuguese pound, a traditional unit of mass usually equivalent to 345 g and chiefly used for trade in medicines
4. (historical) synonym of arrátel, Portuguese pound, a traditional unit of mass usually equivalent to 460 g

• (English unit of mass): onça (¹⁄₁₆ libra), tonelada (2,000 or 2,240 libras)
• (Portuguese unit of mass): oitava (usually ¹⁄₇₂ libra), onça (usually ¹⁄₁₂ libra), quarta (usually ¹⁄₃ libra), marco (usually ²⁄₃ libra), arrátel (1+¹⁄₃ libras)

• “libra”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “libra”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

• IPA^(key): /ˈlibɾa/ [ˈli.β̞ɾa]
• Rhymes: -ibɾa
• Syllabification: li‧bra

From Latin libra (“Roman pound, scale”). Doublet of lira. In reference to the English unit, a calque of English pound. Cognate with Galician and Portuguese libra and Catalan lliura.

libra f (plural libras)

1. English or American pound avoirdupois (a unit of mass equivalent to 453.6 g)
2. (historical) libra, Spanish pound (a traditional unit of mass equivalent to about 460 g)
3. British pound (the currency of the United Kingdom and its dependencies, originally notionally equivalent to a pound of stirling silver)

   Synonym: libra esterlina

4. (chiefly historical) pound (various other currencies originally notionally equivalent to a pound of gold or silver)

• (English unit of mass): grano (¹⁄₇₀₀₀ libra), onza (¹⁄₁₆ libra), tonelada (2,000 or 2,240 libras)
• (Spanish unit of mass): grano (¹⁄₉₂₁₆ libra), onza (¹⁄₁₆ libra), cuarterón (¹⁄₄ libra), marco (¹⁄₂ libra), arroba (25 libras), quintal (100 libras), tonelada (2,000 libras)

libra m or f by sense (plural libras)

1. Libra (someone with the Libra star sign)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

libra

1. inflection of librar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “libra”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Borrowed from Spanish libra, from Latin lībra.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈlibɾa/ [ˈlib.ɾɐ]
• Rhymes: -ibɾa
• Syllabification: lib‧ra

libra (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜒᜊ᜔ᜇ)

1. pound (unit of mass or force/weight)

• Libra

• Abril, ribal, baril