# Definition:Avoirdupois/Ton

## Definition

The ton is an avoirdupois unit of mass.

 $\ds$  $\ds 1$ ton $\ds$ $=$ $\ds 20$ hundredweight $\ds$ $=$ $\ds 80$ quarters $\ds$ $=$ $\ds 160$ stone $\ds$ $=$ $\ds 2240$ pounds avoirdupois $\ds$ $\approx$ $\ds 1016$ kilograms

## Also known as

The ton can be referred to as a long ton, to distinguish it from the short ton of $2 \, 000$ pounds avoirdupois.

## Linguistic Note on Ton

The word ton derives from the same source as the word tun or tunne, a cask holding $216$ gallons of wine.

The word ton is pronounced tun.

In colloquial language, the word ton is in common use as a rhetorical flourish for a weight too heavy to be easily managed, for example:

This suitcase weighs a ton!

It is also motoring slang, at least in Britain, for $100$ miles per hour:

Took the beamer up to a ton going up the M6 last night, good job there weren't no fuzz around.

The usage is commonly seen as doing the ton, meaning driving at $100$ miles per hour.

## Linguistic Note on Avoirdupois

The word avoirdupois derives from the Norman French word whose literal translation is goods (that is property, or things owned) of weight.

The avoir part also means to have in modern French, and derives from the Latin habere.

It is pronounced something like av-wah-doo-pwah, although Francophones will be aware that there are further subtleties to this.