different between pound vs avoir

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa?nd/
• Rhymes: -a?nd

Etymology 1

From Middle English pound, from Old English pund (“a pound, weight”), from Proto-Germanic *pund? (“pound, weight”), an early borrowing from Latin pond? (“by weight”), ablative form of pondus (“weight”), from Proto-Indo-European *pend-, *spend- (“to pull, stretch”). Cognate with Dutch pond, German Pfund, Swedish pund. Doublet of pood.

Noun

pound (plural pounds) (sometimes pound after numerals)

1. A unit of mass equal to 16 avoirdupois ounces (= 453.592 37 g). Today this value is the most common meaning of "pound" as a unit of weight.

   Synonym: lb

2. A unit of mass equal to 12 troy ounces (? 373.242 g). Today, this is a common unit of weight when measuring precious metals, and is little used elsewhere.

   Synonym: lb t

3. (US) The symbol # (octothorpe, hash)

   Synonyms: hash, sharp

4. The unit of currency used in the United Kingdom and its dependencies. It is divided into 100 pence.

   Synonyms: £, pound sterling, GBP, quid, nicker

5. Any of various units of currency used in Egypt and Lebanon, and formerly in the Republic of Ireland, Cyprus and Israel.

   Synonym: punt

6. Any of various units of currency formerly used in the United States.
7. Abbreviation for pound-force, a unit of force/weight. Using this abbreviation to describe pound-force is inaccurate and unscientific.

Usage notes

• Internationally, the "pound" has most commonly referred to the UK pound, £, (pound sterling). The other currencies were usually distinguished in some way, e.g., the "Irish pound" or the "punt".
• In the vicinity of each other country calling its currency the pound among English speakers the local currency would be the "pound", with all others distinguished, e.g., the "British pound", the "Egyptian pound" etc.
• The general plural of "pound" has usually been "pounds" (at least since Chaucer), but the continuing use of the Old English genitive or neuter "pound" as the plural after numerals (for both currency and weight) is common in some regions. It can be considered correct, or colloquial, depending on region.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• Pound (the unit of mass) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Pound (the UK unit of currency) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• crown, farthing, florin, guinea, penny, pence, shilling, sovereign, sterling

Etymology 2

From Middle English pounde, ponde, pund, from Old English pund (“an enclosure”), related to Old English pyndan (“to enclose, shut up, dam, impound”). Compare also Old English pynd (“a cistern, lake”).

Noun

pound (plural pounds)

1. A place for the detention of stray or wandering animals.

   Synonym: animal shelter
2. (metonymically) The people who work for the pound.
3. (Britain) A place for the detention of automobiles that have been illegally parked, abandoned, etc. Short form of impound.

   Synonyms: (UK) car pound, (US) impound lot, (US) impound
4. A section of a canal between two adjacent locks.

   Synonym: reach

5. A kind of fishing net, having a large enclosure with a narrow entrance into which fish are directed by wings spreading outward.
6. (Newfoundland) a division inside a fishing stage where cod is cured in salt brine

   Synonym: bulk

Usage notes

• Manx English uses this word uncountably.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

pound (third-person singular simple present pounds, present participle pounding, simple past and past participle pounded)

1. To confine in, or as in, a pound; to impound.
   • c. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum, Additional MSS. 24, 665):

     When I short haue shorne my sowce face
     & swigg’d my horny barrell,
     In an oaken Inne I pound my skin
     as a suite of guilt apparrell

Etymology 3

From an alteration of earlier poun, pown, from Middle English pounen, from Old English p?nian (“to pound, beat, bray, bruise, crush”), from Proto-Germanic *p?n?n? (“to break to pieces, pulverise”). Related to Saterland Frisian Pün (“debris, fragments”), Dutch puin (“debris, fragments, rubbish”), Low German pun (“fragments”). Perhaps influenced by Etymology 2 Middle English *pound, pond, from Old English *pund, pynd, in relation to the hollow mortar for pounding with the pestle.

Alternative forms

• poun, pown (obsolete or dialectal)

Verb

pound (third-person singular simple present pounds, present participle pounding, simple past and past participle pounded)

1. (transitive) To strike hard, usually repeatedly.

   Synonyms: hammer, pelt; see also Thesaurus:hit
2. (transitive) To crush to pieces; to pulverize.

   Synonyms: pulverate, triturate
3. (transitive, slang) To eat or drink very quickly.

   Synonyms: bolt, down, chug; see also Thesaurus:eat, Thesaurus:drink
4. (transitive, baseball, slang) To pitch consistently to a certain location.

5. (intransitive, of a body part, generally heart, blood, or head) To beat strongly or throb.
6. (transitive, vulgar, slang) To penetrate sexually, with vigour.

   Synonyms: drill, get up in, nail, poke; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
7. To advance heavily with measured steps.
8. (engineering) To make a jarring noise, as when running.

9. (slang, dated) To wager a pound on.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• bang

Noun

pound (plural pounds)

1. A hard blow.

   Synonym: pounding

Translations

Middle English

Alternative forms

• pounde, pund, punde, powund

Etymology

From Old English pund, in turn from Proto-Germanic *pund?, from Latin pond?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pu?nd/, /pund/

Noun

pound (plural poundes or pounden or pound)

1. A measurement for weight, most notably the Tower pound, merchant's pound or pound avoirdupois, or a weight of said measurement.
2. A pound or other silver coin (including ancient coins), weighing one Tower pound of silver.
3. Money or coinage in general, especially a great amount of it.

Descendants

• English: pound
• Scots: pund, poond

References

• “p?und(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-02-22.

French

Alternative forms

• havoir

Etymology

From Middle French avoir, from Old French avoir, aveir, aver, from Latin habe? (“have, hold, possess”), probably from a Proto-Italic *hab?? or *ha???, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *g?h?b?- (“to grab, to take”). Influenced and reinforced by similar (yet etymologically unrelated) verbs in Germanic; compare Frankish *hab?n, Frankish *heb?n (“to have”), Gothic ???????????????????? (haban, “to have”).

See closer cognates in regional languages in France: Angevin avouèr, Bourbonnais-Berrichon avoér, Bourguignon aivoi, Champenois aouâr, Corsican avè, Franco-Provençal avêr, Franc-Comtois aivoi, Gallo avair, Lorrain ahoir, Norman avaer, Occitan aver, Picard avoèr, Tourangeau avouèr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.vwa?/
• Rhymes: -wa?

Noun

avoir m (plural avoirs)

1. asset, possession

Verb

avoir

1. (transitive) to have (to own; to possess)

2. (intransitive, with à) to have (to), must

3. (auxiliary) to have (auxiliary verb to form compound past tenses of most verbs)

4. (transitive) to have (a condition)

5. (transitive) to have (a measure or age)

6. to have (to trick)

7. to have (to participate in an experience)

Usage notes

Avoir is often used with nouns like chaud (“heat”), faim (“hunger”), soif (“thirst”), peur (“fear”), etc. to express a personal condition or feeling, as shown in examples above. While constructions like être affamé (“to be starving/starved”) and être assoiffé (“to be thirsty”) exist, they are almost always used figuratively. It is always more natural to use avoir rather than être in the examples listed above, and other similar cases. In some cases, both verbs can be used, but with vastly different meanings:

Conjugation

Derived terms

Pages starting with “avoir”.

• il y a
• l'avoir mauvaise
• n'avoir que faire
• n'y a-t-il
• un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l'auras
• y a-t-il
• y avoir

See also

• être

Further reading

• “avoir” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle French

Alternative forms

• avoyr

Etymology

From Old French avoir, aveir, from Latin habe? (“have, hold, possess”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *g?h?b?- (“to grab, to take”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?vo?er/

Verb

avoir

1. to have
2. (auxiliary) to have (verb used to form the perfect tense)

Conjugation

• Like Modern French avoir, highly irregular
• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Descendants

• French: avoir

References

• avoir on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Old French

Alternative forms

• aveir, aver, avoyr

Etymology

From earlier aveir, aver, from Latin habe? (“have, hold, possess”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?voi?r/

Verb

avoir

1. to have
2. (auxiliary) to have (verb used to form the perfect tense)
3. to exist (there is/there are)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Noun

avoir m (oblique plural avoirs, nominative singular avoirs, nominative plural avoir)

1. possession; good
   • circa 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:

     C'est mes avoirs, c'est mes tresorz.

     It is my possession, it is my treasure.

Descendants

• Bourguignon: aivoi
• English: aver (from aver, aveir)
• Middle French: avoir
  • French: avoir
• Picard: avoèr
• Gallo: aveir (from aver, aveir)
• Norman: aveir, aver (from aver, aveir)
• Walloon: aveur (from aver, aveir)