hundredweight

n., pl. hundredweight or -weights. (Abbr. cwt)

1. A unit of weight in the U.S. Customary System equal to 100 pounds (45.36 kilograms). Also called cental, short hundredweight.
2. A unit of weight in the British Imperial System equal to 112 pounds (50.80 kilograms). Also called quintal.

A unit of weight measurement created by U.S. merchants in the late 1800s. A hundred weight is equal to exactly 100 pounds.

Investopedia Says:
Usually, this measurement is used in futures contracts that require the weight of the underlying to be specified.

quintal

mass 112 lb (50.802~ kg) (cwt, gross hundredweight, long hundredweight) in Britain and elsewhere, but 100 lb (45.359~ kg) (also net hundredweight, short hundredweight) in North America. See pound for more precise values, and Table 25 for scales.

BI, Australia, New Zealand	SI
lb	…	…	…	…	454.~ g
14	stone	…	…	…	6.35~ kg
28	2	quarter	…	…	12.7~ kg
112	8	4	hundredweight	…	50.8~ kg
2 240			20	ton	1016.~ kg
For downward extension, see ounce.

US-C, Canada	SI
lb	…	…	…	…	454.~ g
25	quarter		…	…	11.3~ kg
100		4	hundredweight	…	45.4~ kg
2 000			20	ton	907.~ kg
For downward extension, see ounce.

The cwt was removed from official UK measures in 1985.The UK Weights and Measures Act 1985 explicitly excluded from use for trade the bushell, cental, chain, drachm, dram, fluid drachm, furlong, grain, hundredweight, ounce apoth., peck, pennyweight, quarter, quintal, rood, scruple, stone, ton, the square mile, cubic inch, cubic foot, cubic yard, and the term ‘metric ton’. However, the legal status of the bushell, fluid drachm, and peck had been repealed, along with all apothecaries' units and troy units other than ounce, by Order in 1970. Besides the remaining BI units and the simple SI units, the Act included the kilometre, decimetre, centimetre and millimetre, the square metre, square decimetre, square centimetre and square millimetre, the hectare and decare along with the are, the cubic metre, cubic decimetre and cubic centimetre, the hectolitre decilitre, centilitre and millilitre, the tonne (or ‘metric tonne’), kilogram, hectogram, milligram and carat (metric). All had been included in the similar Act of 1963, but with some variation of name: -gram was -gramme, decare was dekare, the tonne appeared only as metric ton.

For new hundredweight, see cental (= 100 lb).

weight, force See gravitational system, weight.

112 pounds avoirdupois weight.

To convert from hundredweights (short) to:

ounces (avoirdupois), multiply by 1600.
pounds, multiply by 100.
tons (metric), multiply by .0453592.
tons (long), multiply by .0446429.

Convert:  Into:  ounces (avoirdupois) pounds tons (metric) tons (long)

Result:

Related measurements:
hundredweights (long)

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - vægtenheden centner

Nederlands (Dutch)
centenaar (gewichtseenheid)

Français (French)
n. - quintal, (Mes) (GB) (= 50,80 kg), (Mes) (US) (= 45,36 kg)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Zentner

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αγγλικός στατήρας (50.80 χιλιόγραμμα), εκατόβαρο

Italiano (Italian)
hundredweight (unità di misura)

Português (Portuguese)
n. - peso (m) de 100 libras = 45,3593 kg (EUA), peso (m) de 112 libras = 50,8024 kg (Brit.)

Русский (Russian)
английский центнер

Español (Spanish)
n. - quintal

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - centner a) britt. 50,802 kg, b) amer. 45,359 kg

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
重量单位, 半公担, 英担

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 重量單位, 半公擔, 英擔

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 중량의 단위

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ハンドレッドウェイト

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الهندردويت, وحدة وزن تساوي مئه باوند في الولايات المتحدة الامريكيه أو 112 باوندا في انكلترة‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מאה ליטראות, 05 ק"ג. בבריטניה: כ-8.05 ק"ג, בארה"ב: כ-4.54 ק"ג‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.