- láb
-
the traditional Hungarian foot, equal to about 31.6 centimeters (12.44 English
inches).
- labor
-
a traditional unit of area in Latin American countries. The labor is equal to
the area of a square 1000 varas on a side, or 0.04 legua. Using the Texas
standard for the vara (33 1/3 inches), this is equivalent to 177.136 acres or
71.685 hectares.
- lakh or lac
-
a traditional unit of quantity in India, equal to 105 or 100,000.
- lambda
-
a metric unit of volume equal to the cubic millimeter (mm3) or
microliter (µL). The symbol is the lower case Greek letter lambda.
-
a unit of relative distance used in the design of integrated circuits in
microelectronics.
- lambert
-
a CGS unit of luminance. One lambert is the luminance of a surface that emits
or reflects one lumen per square centimeter.
- lanac
-
a traditional unit of land area in countries of the former Yugoslavia. In
Serbia, the lanac is equal to about 0.56 hectare (1.38 acres). In Croatia, the
lanac is larger, equal to 0.7193 hectare (1.777 acres). The word "lanac" means
"chain, people originally used chains in measuring land.
- land mile
-
the ordinary statute mile, equal to 5280 feet or 1609.344 meters, called "land
mile" to distinguish it from the nautical mile.
- lb
-
symbol for the pound in English, Spanish, and Italian , derived from the Latin
word libra for the Roman version of the same unit.
- lbf, lbm
-
The symbols lbf and lbm are used to distinguish between pounds of force and
pounds of mass.
- lea
-
a traditional unit of length for yarn, varying with the weight of the fibers in
the yarn, a lea of wool is 80 yards (73 meters); a lea of cotton or silk 120
yards (110 meters); and a lea of linen 300 yards (274 meters). For cotton and
wool, a lea is equal to 1/7 hank.
- league
-
a traditional unit of distance in the western Europe. Derived from an ancient
Celtic unit and adopted by the Romans as the leuga,roughly represent the
distance a person could walk in an hour. It was mostly equal to 3 current miles
on land. At sea, the league was most often equal to 3 nautical miles, or
exactly 5556 meters.
- leap
-
a traditional Welsh unit of distance equal to 6 feet 9 inches or 2.0574 meters.
- leap second
-
an extra second added at the end of a day (June 30 or December 31) to realign
timekeeping with the earth's rate of rotation.
- leap year
-
a unit of civil time equal to 366 days. An extra day is added on February 29 in
leap year.
- legoa
-
the Portuguese league, equal to 3 milhas (Portuguese miles), about 3.836
statute miles or 6174.1 meters.
- legua
-
the Spanish league. The traditional legua is equal to 5000 varas, which is
close to 2.6 miles or 4.2 kilometers. Based on traditional Spanish definition,
it would be 2.597 miles, 13712 feet, or 4179.4 meters. Using the Texas
definition of the vara, the legua is 2.6305 miles, 13889 feet, or 4233.4
meters. At present, the legua is still used in Argentina and in other
Spanish-speaking countries as a metric unit equal to exactly 5 kilometers
(3.107 miles).
-
Legue is also a traditional Spanish unit of area equal to one square legua
(length). In Mexico, it is often called a sitio.
- li
-
a traditional unit of distance in China. the li equals exactly 0.5 kilometer or
500 meters, about 1/3 miles. In Chinese, the kilometer is called a gongli.
During the European colonial period, a li was 1800 chi (ch'ih), which is 2115
feet, about 0.401 mile, or 644.65 meters.
- liang
-
a traditional Chinese weight unit. A liang equals 1/10 jin or 10 qian;
this is exactly 50 grams (1.7637 ounces). During the European colonial period
the liang was equal to 1/16 catty, 1/12 pound, or about 37.8 grams, same as a
tael.
- libra or libbra
-
a traditional unit of weight in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese speaking
countries. The libra was the Roman unit from which the English pound is
descended; the symbol "lb" for the pound comes from this unit. It varies with
areas.
- lieue
-
the French league. A variety of lieue units were used for land measurement in
France, they were around 2.4-2.5 statute miles in length.
- light second
-
a unit of distance equal to the distance light travels in a vacuum in one
second. It is exactly 299,792,458 meters (about 186,282.4 miles). a
light minute is 60 light seconds and a
light day is 1440 light minutes.
- light year
-
a unit of distance used in astronomy. One light year is the distance that light
travels in one year through a vacuum. The "year" used for this calculation is
usually the Julian year of exactly 365.25 days or 31 557 600 seconds; one light
year equals 9.460 730 473 x 1015 meters, or 9.460 730 473 trillion
kilometers, approximately 5.880 trillion miles.
- ligne
-
a traditional unit of distance in French speaking countries, equal to 1/12
pouce (French inch). The Swiss ligne is used throughout the world by
watchmakers; it equals about 2.256 millimeters (0.0888 inch) and is divided
into 12 douzičmes.
- ligula
-
a Roman unit of liquid volume equal to 1/48 sextarius or about 11.07
milliliters.
- line
-
a traditional unit of distance equal to 1/12 inch (about 2.1167 millimeters) in
Europe.
-
a former name for the maxwell, the CGS unit of magnetic flux.
-
a unit of distance equal to 1/14 inch, used in printing and advertising.
- link
-
a traditional unit of distance used by surveyors, equal to 0.01 chain. In
Britain, one link is exactly 0.66 feet, or 7.92 inches, or 20.12
centimeters.
- lippie
-
a traditional unit of volume in Scotland equal to 1/4 Scots peck. This was
about 2.27 liters for wheat, peas, or beans and about 3.04 liters for barley or
oats.
- liter or litre
-
the common metric unit of volume. The liter was originally defined to be the
volume occupied by a kilogram of water, and the gram as the mass of a cubic
centimeter of water.
-
As measured by the standard meter and standard kilogram, the standard liter
turned out to be about 1.000 028 cubic decimeters. the liter is approximately
61.023 744 cubic inches. the liter is a little more than a U. S. liquid quart
(1.056 688 qt or 33.814 fluid ounces) but a little less than a U. S. dry quart
(0.908 08 qt) or a British imperial quart (0.879 89 qt or 35.195 fluid ounces).
Its name comes from a French volume unit, the litron, which was in turn
derived from the Latin litra.
- load
-
a load often means the volume of a pickup truck, a varying unit. A
typical size was 40 bushels (roughly 1.4 cubic meters).
- long hundredweight
-
the British hundredweight, equal to 112 pounds.
- long ton
-
the traditional British ton, equal to 2240 pounds.
- longword
-
a unit of information equal to 2 shortwords, 4 bytes or 32 bits.
- lot
-
a traditional unit of weight in German speaking countries, equal to about 1/2
ounce or 15 grams.
- lug
-
an old English name for a rod (5.5 yards or 5.0292 meters).
-
a shallow box or crate for produce such as cherries, grapes, or peaches. The
size of a lug varies with the item it contains. It hold produce in a volume of
roughly 1/3 bushel, particularly common in produce markets in the midwestern
U.S.
- lumen
-
the SI unit for measuring the flux of light being produced by a light source or
received by a surface.
- lunar day
-
another name for the tidal day, a unit of time equal to 24
hours 50 minutes used in tidal predictions.
- lunar distance
-
the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, It is equal to about
384 401 kilometers or 238 855 miles, is used to measure the "miss distances" of
asteroids passing near the Earth.
- lunar month, lunation
-
names for the interval between two successive new moons, a unit of time equal
to 29.530 59 days.
- luster, lustre, lustrum
-
a traditional unit of time equal to 5 years. In ancient Rome the Lustrum was a
ceremony of expiation and purification for the whole population of the city,
carried out every 5 years after the completion of the census. The use of luster
or lustrum as a unit of time in English was fairly common in well-educated
circles as long as "well-educated" meant classically educated; the unit has
pretty much disappeared today.
- lux
-
the SI unit for measuring the illumination of a surface. One lux is defined as
an illumination of one lumen per square meter or 0.0001 phot. In considering
the various light units, it's useful to think about light originating at a
point and shining upon a surface. One lux is equal to approximately 0.09290
foot candle.
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