Hand (unit)

For other uses, see Hand (disambiguation).
For the handbreadth or handsbreadth, see Palm (unit). For the handspan, see Span (unit).
Hand (unit)
The hand (2) and palm (3) measurements shown, among others, on a human hand
General information
Unit systemImperial/US units
Unit ofLength
Symbolh, hh
Conversions
1 h in ...... is equal to ...
   Imperial/US units   
  • 4 in
  • ⁠1/3⁠ ft
   SI units   
  • 101.6 mm
  • 10.16 cm

The hand is a non-SI unit of measurement of length standardized to 4 in (101.6 mm). It is used to measure the height of horses in many English-speaking countries, including Australia,[1] Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[2] It was originally based on the breadth of a human hand. The adoption of the international inch in 1959 allowed for a standardized imperial form and a metric conversion.[citation needed] It may be abbreviated to "h" or "hh".[3] Although measurements between whole hands are usually expressed in what appears to be decimal format, the subdivision of the hand is not decimal but is in base 4, so subdivisions after the radix point are in quarters of a hand, which are inches.[2] Thus, 62 inches is fifteen and a half hands, or 15.2 hh (normally said as "fifteen-two", or occasionally in full as "fifteen hands two inches").[2]

  1. ^ "Equestrian Australia Measuring Rules Effective 1 July 2008" (PDF). equestrian.org.au/. Equestrian Australia Limited. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference omafra was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference brander was invoked but never defined (see the help page).