Dram (dr)

US & ImperialTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

One sixteenth of an ounce (1.7718 g). Used mainly for small quantities of powder.

1 dram = 0.001771845195 kilograms (approximately).

About the dram

Greek coinage lies behind this small weight: dram is a form of drachma, a coin that was also a unit of mass in ancient Greece. An Attic drachma weighed about 4.37 grams and a Roman one about 3.41 grams. The avoirdupois dram is smaller than both, one sixteenth of an ounce or one 256th of a pound, which is exactly 1.7718451953125 grams, or about 27.34 grains.

A different dram existed in medicine. The apothecaries' dram is an eighth of an apothecaries' ounce and equals 60 grains, or exactly 3.8879346 grams, and it was common in American pharmacy until the mid-twentieth century. After Britain's Weights and Measures Act 1878 the spellings split by about 1900, with dram for the avoirdupois unit and drachm for the apothecaries' one. Today the avoirdupois dram survives mainly in shotgun shell ratings, expressed in drams of black powder equivalent. As a loose word for a small measure of whisky, it has drifted away from the weight altogether.

Sources: Wikipedia: Dram (unit)

Dram conversion chart

1 dram expressed in every other weight & mass unit:

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