Palm (unit)

A diagram of various units derived from the human hand. The palm (3) was originally the width of the palm but was standardized as the somewhat smaller width of four digits (6). The related shaftment (1) and hand (2) were the width of the palm plus an open or closed thumb. The other units are the span (4) and finger (5).

The palm is an obsolete anthropic unit of length, originally based on the width of the human palm and then variously standardized. The same name is also used for a second, rather larger unit based on the length of the human hand.[1]

The width of the palm was a traditional unit in Ancient Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome and in medieval England, where it was also known as the hand,[2][a] handbreadth,[3] or handsbreadth.[3][b]

The length of the hand—originally the Roman "greater palm"—formed the palm of medieval Italy and France. In Spanish customary units palmo menor or coto was the palm, while palmo was the span, the distance between an outstretched thumb and little finger. In Portuguese palmo or palmo de craveira was the span.[citation needed]

  1. ^ "palm, n.² 2", Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ a b "hand, n. 9", Oxford English Dictionary.
  3. ^ a b c "handbreadth, n.", Oxford English Dictionary.


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