How Many Pounds Are in a Stone?

British residents likely understand how to measure their weight in stones; one stone equals 14 pounds avoirdupois or international pounds. Unfortunately, many Americans don’t know this amount – many even don’t know exactly how many pounds make up one stone!

How did this measurement originate, and why do British people continue to utilize it while Americans no longer do?

Stones have long been used to measure things such as wool since Roman times. Each stone had a specific value depending on the commodity being measured; eventually these varied values came together into one standard stone for wool trading purposes at 14 pounds.

This standard stone was later adopted as the unit of weight by England and other European countries, alongside other standard units like pounds, ounces, and hundredweight until the adoption of kilograms in the mid-18th century. Today however, pounds remain the predominant unit of weight both in the US and UK.

Though many countries have switched over to the metric system, some still cling to imperial measures of weight such as stones – equaling 14 pounds – as measures. Citizens living in these nations may refer to themselves or products/livestock weighing in stones when discussing weight.

At first glance, this might seem surprising; however, stones make convenient weight measurements both personally and household-wide. Furthermore, their system of weight measurement involving stones is easy to comprehend – the English have long used this system of measurement even after most countries switched over to the metric system.

Stones-to-pounds ratio can also be used to convert any number of pounds measurements to stones, and vice versa. Simply enter the figure you wish to convert in the converter box, select “stones” from the menu list, and copy and save as results for reference or future records.

An easy and convenient way to quickly convert between these units of measurement is using an online calculator. This handy tool will quickly convert any pound figure to stones and ounces; additionally, this calculator also supports conversion of other measurement units, such as tons, kilograms, milligrams and micrograms. Best of all? The calculator is completely free! The tool provides fast conversion between various measurements quickly and effortlessly – great when trying to figure out how many stones there are in 20 lbs!