Kin to Pounds (kin to lb)

1 kin equals 1.322773573 pounds (rounded).

1 kin = 1.322773573 pounds

How to convert kin to pounds

To convert kin to pounds, multiply the number of kin by 1.322773573. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply pounds by 0.7559872833 (rounded).

pounds = kin × 1.322773573

Example: 10 kin = 13.22773573 pounds.

About these units

Kin (kin)

JapaneseTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

160 monme, exactly 600 g. A traditional Japanese unit of weight, equal to 600 g.

Kin is the Japanese unit that older English sources call the catty. In Japan it was defined as 160 monme, or 16 hundredths of a kan.

After the 1891 Weights and Measures Act tied the kan to exactly 3.75 kg, the kin became exactly 600 g, which is the figure used here. That makes it about 1.32 pounds, a convenient size for everyday goods bought in modest quantities, and it is still the size commonly used for loaves of bread.

Japan moved to the metric system as the sole legal system from 1959, and trade use of the kin was prohibited. The older unit remains familiar to many Japanese shoppers as a size of 600 g.

1 kin = 0.6 kilograms (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Japanese units of measurement; Japanese Wikipedia: Kan

Pound (lb)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

Exactly 0.45359237 kg, divided into 16 ounces. The standard unit of weight in the US and common in the UK.

Why is pound abbreviated lb? The answer is Roman. The English word comes from the Latin libra pondo, roughly the weight measured in libra, and the symbol keeps the first word. The Roman libra was divided into 12 unciae. The avoirdupois pound of 16 ounces came into general use around 1300 and was initially equal to 6,992 troy grains; under Elizabeth I it was redefined as 7,000 grains. The UK's Weights and Measures Act 1878 set the imperial standard pound as a platinum cylinder, and the troy pound was abolished for trade the following year.

Today the pound is defined from the kilogram. The International Yard and Pound Agreement of 1959 fixed it at exactly 0.45359237 kg, and the UK's Weights and Measures Act 1963 wrote the same figure into law. Pounds remain the everyday unit for body weight, groceries and shipping in the United States and are widely used in the UK. The word also survives in odd places: a six-pounder cannon was named for the weight of its shot, not its own.

1 pound = 0.45359237 kilograms (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Pound (mass); NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8 (mass conversions)

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