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Length/Distance | Convert from rood to inch [international, U.S.] |
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Common Length Conversions Metric Length Conversions Unit Definition (rood) The rood is an old unit of distance, used in several ways. Rood (or roede) is an old Dutch word meaning a rod or pole. So the rood is in some cases another name for a rod. But in old England and Scotland the rood was often longer than a "modern" rod of 16.5 feet; sometimes it was 20 feet, 21 feet, or even 24 feet. In Afrikaans-speaking South Africa, the rood was a standardized measure equal to 12 Cape feet, which is 12.396 English feet or 3.7783 meters. Unit Definition (inch [international, U.S.]) The inch is a traditional measurement of distance equal to 1/12 of a foot, or exactly 2.54 centimeters. The Old English word "ynce" is derived from the Latin uncia, meaning a 1/12 part. It follows that "inch" and "ounce" actually have the same origin. The inch was originally defined in England in two ways: as the length of three barleycorns laid end to end, or as the width of a man's thumb at the base of the nail. The barleycorn definition is peculiarly English, but the thumb-width definition is generic. In many european languages the word for inch actually also means thumb: examples include the Dutch duim, Swedish tum, French pouce, and Spanish pulgada. In the history of English units the inch seems to come before the foot, as after the Norman conquest of 1066, the foot was defined as 12 inches, rather than the inch being defined as 1/12 foot.
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