Tael
Tael (/ˈteɪl/;simplified Chinese: 两; traditional Chinese: 兩; pinyin: liǎng) or tahil can refer to any one of several weight measures of the Far East. Most commonly, it refers to the Chinese tael, a part of the Chinese system of weights and currency.
In Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia it is equivalent to 10 mace (Chinese: 錢; pinyin: qián) or 1⁄16 catty, albeit with slightly different metric equivalents in these two places. These Chinese units of measurement are usually used in the Chinese herbal medicine stores as well as gold and silver exchange.
Names and etymology
The English word tael comes through Portuguese from the Malay word tahil, meaning "weight". Early English forms of the name such as "tay" or "taes" derive from the Portuguese plural of tael, taeis.
Tahil (/ˈtɑːhɪl/ in Singaporean English) is used in Malay and English today when referring to the weight in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei where it is still used in some contexts especially related to the significant Overseas Chinese population.
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