This is a list of units of measurement based on human body parts or the attributes and abilities of humans (anthropometric units). It does not include derived units further unless they are also themselves human-based. These units are thus considered to be human scale and anthropocentric. A cross-cultural review of body-based measurement systems has found such units to be ubiquitous worldwide.
Area Morgen - the area that one man could plow from morning to noon. Quinaria - the cross-sectional area of a pipe created from a flat sheet of lead 5 digits wide. Stremma - the amount of land a person can plow in a day.
Length
Arms Cubit - length of the human forearm. Amah - Biblical ell. Arş - Turkish cubit. Arsh - Arabic cubit Cubitus - Ancient Roman cubit Ell Elle - German ell Macedonian cubit Pēchys - Ancient Greek cubit
Feet Foot - length of the human foot Arabic foot Fuß - German foot Russian fut - Russian foot Tatar fut - Tatar foot Pes - Roman foot Pous - Greek foot
Fingers Finger Assbā - Arabic finger Condylos - middle joint of finger Cun - width of the human thumb, at the knuckle Dactylos - Ancient Greek finger breadth Digit - length of a human finger Digitus - Ancient Roman digit Etzba - fingerbreadth
Forearms Pygmē - distance from elbow to base of fingers
Hands Hand - breadth of a human hand Fistmele - the measure of a clenched hand with the thumb extended Shaftment - width of the fist and outstretched thumb Span - width of a human hand, from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger Spithamē - Ancient Greek span Zeret - Biblical span
Inches Inch - width of the thumb (by some definitions) Duym - Tatar thumb/inch Uncia - Roman inch Zoll - German inch
Paces Pace - a full stride, from heel to heel Gradus - Ancient Roman step Haploun bēma - Ancient Greek single pace Orgye - Arabic pace Passus - the pace step of a single legionary
Palms Palm - breadth of four fingers Cabda - Arabic palm Chetvert/Piad - Russian span/palm Palaistē/dōron - Ancient Greek palm Palmus - Ancient Roman palm Tefah/Tefach - Biblical palm
Outstretched arms Fathom - the distance between the fingertips of a human's outstretched arms Ald - the distance between a man's outstretched arms Klafter - German measure of outstretched hands Orgyia - Ancient Greek fathom Sazhen - Russian fathom
Walking distances League - the distance a person can walk in an hour (by one definition) Parasang - the distance an infantryman could march in a predefined period of time
Others Smoot - a humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity pledge
Loudness Phon Sone
Mass Picul - the weight a person can carry
Time Nimesha - the time it takes for a person to blink Paramanu - interval of blinking in humans
Volume Choenix - a man's daily grain ration. Finger tip unit. Koku - the amount of rice needed to feed a person for a year. Japanese masu - the amount of rice needed to feed a person for a day. Hathy - Arabic unit for amount of sand or water collected in a one-hand swipe.
Miscellaneous Garn - unit of measure for symptoms resulting from space adaptation syndrome; equal to complete incapacitation; named for Jake Garn.
See also
References