Feet to Egyptian Palms (ft to palm)

1 foot equals 4.064 Egyptian palms exactly.

1 foot = 4.064 Egyptian palms

How to convert feet to Egyptian palms

To convert feet to Egyptian palms, multiply the number of feet by 4.064. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply Egyptian palms by 0.2460629921 (rounded).

Egyptian palms = feet × 4.064

Example: 10 feet = 40.64 Egyptian palms.

Approximate value. Standards for the Egyptian palm varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.

About these units

Foot (ft)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

12 inches. Defined as exactly 0.3048 meters. Still the standard unit for height, altitude in aviation and room dimensions in the US and UK.

Human anatomy supplied the idea: an adult foot is roughly 15 percent of body height. Ancient cultures turned that into standards, but not the same one. The Greek pous was about 302 mm, the standard Roman pes about 295.7 mm, and a Harappan foot of about 335 mm has been reported from the Indus Valley. Historically, a foot fell somewhere between about 250 and 335 mm. Charlemagne tried to standardize units around 790 with little lasting success, and in 1593 English law fixed the statute mile at 5,280 feet.

The modern foot dates from the 1959 International Yard and Pound Agreement, which defined the yard as exactly 0.9144 meter and so the foot as exactly 0.3048 meter; the UK adopted it on 1 January 1964. The US survey foot, defined in 1893 as 1200/3937 meter, was deprecated on 31 December 2022. Feet remain in everyday use for height and rooms in the US, and ISO shipping containers are defined in them. Aviation altitudes use them too: flight level 330 means 33,000 feet.

1 foot = 0.3048 meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Foot (unit); Wikipedia: Mile; NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8: conversion factors

Egyptian Palm (palm)

Ancient EgyptianHistorical unit (no longer in standard use)Approximate value

One seventh of a royal cubit, about 7.5 cm. Four fingers (digits) made a palm.

Four finger widths side by side made one palm, the breadth of the hand across the knuckles without the thumb. Its Egyptian name is given as shesep, and modern writers also call it a hand or handsbreadth. Seven palms made a royal cubit, so the palm is a seventh of that rod and comes to 7.5 cm at a cubit of 52.5 cm. Ordinary common cubits in other cultures had only six palms, which is one reason Egyptian rods are easy to recognise.

Surviving rods show that the palm was a working division. Each rod was cut into seven palms, and the palms were split into fingers and finer fractions, so masons and carpenters could check a stone or a timber against a standard instead of their own hands. The palm shifts slightly with the cubit it comes from, since rods are measured at about 52.35 to 52.92 cm, giving palms of about 7.48 to 7.56 cm. Related units include the remen of five palms, about 37.5 cm, and a foot of four palms, close to 30 cm.

1 Egyptian palm = 0.075 meters (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Ancient Egyptian units of measurement; Wikipedia: Cubit

Related conversions

See all length units.