Palm (unit) facts for kids

This picture shows old ways to measure using your hand. A palm was about 3 inches (7.62 cm).

The palm was an old unit of length. It was usually thought of as the width of four fingers, or about three inches. This means it was about 7.62 centimeters long.

What Was the Palm Unit?

People used the palm unit a long time ago. It was a way to measure things using parts of the human body. Imagine using your hand to measure how wide something is!

The palm was often defined as the width of your hand, not including your thumb. Sometimes it was also described as the width of four fingers together.

Other Hand-Based Measurements

In the past, many other units of length were based on the human body. These units are not used much anymore, especially in English-speaking countries.

Some of these old units included:

• Digit: This was the width of one finger. It was about one-quarter of a palm.
• Finger: Another unit based on a finger, slightly different from a digit.
• Hand: This unit was the width of your hand, including your thumb. It was about four palms. Today, the hand unit is still sometimes used to measure the height of horses.
• Shaftment: This was the width of your hand plus your outstretched thumb. It was equal to two palms.
• Span: This was the distance from the tip of your thumb to the tip of your little finger when your hand was stretched out. It was equal to three palms.
• Cubit: This was the length from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger. It was equal to six palms.
• Ell: This was a longer unit, often used for measuring cloth. It was equal to fifteen palms.

These units show how people used their own bodies to create measuring systems before modern tools were common.

Images for kids

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  A diagram of various units derived from the human hand. The palm (3) was originally the width of the palm but was standardized as the somewhat smaller width of four digits (6). The related shaftment (1) and hand (2) were the width of the palm plus an open or closed thumb. The other units are the span (4) and finger (5).

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  Detail of the cubit rod in the Museo Egizio of Turin, showing digit, palm, hand and fist lengths

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  Sign giving the metric equivalents of the units in use in the 17th century in the covered market of Pernes-les-Fontaines in the Vaucluse

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  The English palm as the width of four fingers.

See also

In Spanish: Palma (unidad) para niños