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APPENDIX 6. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

The weights and measures listed below are not the full scale used throughout the country as these vary to some extent from district to district but they are the most commonly accepted ones which you are likely to meet in Bangkok and other commercial areas.

  1. Length.

    หุน
    		 HOON
    		r
    		This is generally taken as 1/8 of an inch and is the smallest unit used for measuring thickness. It is mostly used with reference to metal sheets. 1/16 of an inch is expressed as KREUNG HOON (half HOON). The same word is also a measure of weight equal to 475 milligrams used in reference to gold.
    นิ้ว
    		 NIW
    		h
    		This is actually 0.83 inches but is now generally considered as one inch. It is used for timber sizes and other small measurements where the metric system is not used.
    กืบ
    		 KEUP
    		d
    		25 centimeters. 9.8425 inches.

    ฟุต
    		 FOOT
    		h
    		Foot.

    หลา
    		 LAH
    		r
    		Yard. Sometimes used for piece goods.

    ศอก
    		 SORK
    		l
    		50 cms.

    เมตร
    		 MAYT
    		d
    		Meter. Generally used in building construction and also for piece goods.
    วา
    		 WAH
    		c
    		2 meters.

    เส้น
    		 SEN
    		d
    		40 meters.

    กิโลเมตร
    		 GILOMAYT
    		l-c-d
    		Kilometer. Mostly used for all long distances.
    ไมล์
    		 MY
    		c
    		Mile.

  2. Area.

    (ตาราง) วา
    		 (DTAH RAHNG) WAH
    		(c-c) c
    		(Square) Wah. 4 sq. meters. 4.784 sq. yards.
    งาน
    		NGAHN
    		c
    		100 square Wah.

    ไร่
    		RY
    		d
    		400 square Wah. 1600 sq. meters.

  3. Volume and Weight.

    Measurement for volume and weight are rather interwoven and confused for the reason that as scales are not generally available in the rural districts the primary form of measurement is traditionally by the volume of a particular basket or other form of container such as a kerosene tin, the equivalent weight of the contents of which has been fixed more or less arbitrarily by custom or law, mostly assuming that the commodity measured will be rice.

    กะรัต
    		 GARUT
    		l-l
    		A Carat. 3.065 grains. Used for gems.
    ทะนาน
    		 TANAHN
    		h-c
    		(Coconut Shell) 1 Litre.

    ชั่ง
    		 CHUNG
    		d
    		(A katty) 0.6 Kgs. Official.

    ถัง
    		 TUNG
    		r
    		(A bucket) 20 Litres. 10 Kgs. Official.

    สัด
    		 SUT
    		l
    		(A bushel) 20 Litres. 10 Kgs. Official.

    หาบ
    		 HAHP
    		l
    		(A picul) 60 Kgs. Official.

    บั้น
    		 BUN
    		d
    		1000 Litres. 500 Kgs. Official.

    เกวียน
    		 KWEE-AN
    		c
    		(An ox cart) 2000 Litres. 1000 Kgs. Official.

Notes.
Zimmermann in 1931 surveyed 29 villages and found that the TUNG or SUT used for measuring white rice varied from 5.7 kgs. (11 litres) in a village near Ayudhya to 19.6 kgs. (36 litres) in a village near Koraht and hardly any two of the 29 villages used the same measure.


 (First Rural Economic Survey. 1931-1932.)

Kaufmann states that in part of the Central Plain one SUT is equivalent to 1.25 TUNG or 25 Litres.


 (Bangkaud, A community study in Thailand. 1960.)

Kingshill states that in the north 2 baskets of 1 TUNG each constitute 1 HAHP.


 (Ku Dang, A village study in northern Thailand. 1960.)

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