Definition of QUINTAL

quintal

Plural: quintals

Noun

  • A unit of weight, typically 100 kilograms or 220.46 pounds.
  • a unit of weight equal to 100 kilograms
  • a United States unit of weight equivalent to 100 pounds
  • Synonym of hundredweight, 100 or 112 English or American pounds.
  • Various other similar units of weight in other systems.
  • An unofficial metric unit equal to 100 kg.
  • A grammatical number referring to five (or more) things.

Adj

  • Referring to five (or more) things; of, in or relating to the quintal grammatical number.

Examples

  • The QUINTAL of points he just scored felt heavier than any unit of weight.

Origin / Etymology

Late Middle English, from Anglo-Norman quintal, from Middle French quintal, from Old French and Medieval Latin quintale and quintallus (“various medieval hundredweights”), from Arabic قِنْطَار (qinṭār, “100 rottols”), from Classical Syriac ܩܰܢܛܺܝܪܳܐ (qanṭīrā) and ܩܰܢܛܺܝܢܳܪܳܐ (qanṭīnārā), from Byzantine Greek κεντηνάριον (kentēnárion), from Latin centēnārium (“100 Roman pounds”), from the neuter of centēnārius (“having 100 things”). Use for various non-English units, borrowed from French quintal, Spanish quintal, Portuguese quintal, etc. The apparent relation to quint- (“five, fivefold”) and -al (forming adjectives) is accidental, although it possibly influenced the eventual spelling of the term. Doublet of centenary, centner, and kantar.

Synonyms

cental, centner, cwt, hundredweight, short hundredweight, 100 or 112 English or American pounds

Scrabble Score: 16

quintal: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
quintal: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
quintal: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 19

quintal: valid Words With Friends Word