Maund

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /mɔːnd/

From Middle English maunde, mande, from Old English mand, mond ("basket"), from Proto-Germanic *mandō ("basket"). Cognate with Dutch mand, Low German mande, archaic German Mande, later influenced by Anglo-Norman and Middle French mande (< ). Related to mannequin.

Alternative forms

• mand
• mande, mawn, mond Scotland

Full definition of maund

Noun

1. A wicker basket.
2. A unit of capacity with various specific local values.

Anglicised pronunciation of a word in many southern and western Asian languages. The -d probably from assimilation with Etymology 1 above, or from comparison with pound.

Original root is unclear, but may be Arabic مَنّ, Persian من or Sanskrit मानः. Sanskrit has a verb root मा, "to measure".

Alternative forms

• mun
• man

Noun

1. (archaic) A unit of weight in southern and western Asia, whose value varied widely by location. Two maunds made one chest of opium in East India. One maund equalled 136 pounds of opium in Turkey.
• 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘In Flood Time’, In Black and White, Folio Society 2005, p. 410:Now the rail has come, and the fire-carriage says buz-buz-buz, and a hundred lakhs of maunds slide across that big bridge.

Usage notes

This spelling (maund) is usually used for the unit in British India, equal to 25 pounds avoirdupois at Madras, 28 pounds avoirdupois at Bombay and 10 troy pounds at Calcutta. For the equivalent unit in the and in Persian- and Arabic-speaking countries, it is more usual to use the spelling mun or man (italicised to show that the word has not been assimilated into English).

Unclear, but possibly from French mendier or quémander, "to beg". Compare Romani mang, "to beg".

Noun

1. (archaic) begging

Verb

1. (archaic) to beg
2. (obsolete) To mutter; to mumble or speak incoherently; to maunder.

Anagrams

• dunam
• undam