dirhem
A former small Turkish unit of weight, variously reckoned as 1.5–3.5 g (0.05–0.12 oz.).
Noun
- A former small Turkish unit of weight, variously reckoned as 1.5–3.5 g (0.05–0.12 oz.).
- At Aleppo, and its port Scanderoon, the cantaro contains 100 rottoli, each of which is subdivided into 12 ounces, or 720 drachms... The rottolo with which the silks from Tripoli, and other parts of Syria, are weighed,...
- Dram (49·5 grains), 100=chequi, 4=oka (2·8286 ℔); dram (49·5 grains), 180=rotl, 100=kintal or kantar (127·29 ℔). - 1888, W.M.F. Petrie, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. XXIV, s.v. "Weights and Measures"
- Alternative form of dirham: a former silver coin weighing one dirhem; modern currencies named for it.
Origin
Borrowed from Turkish dirhem, from Ottoman Turkish درهم (dirhem), borrowing from Persian درهم (dirham), borrowing from Arabic دِرْهَم (dirham), borrowing from Middle Persian 𐭦𐭥𐭦𐭭 (zʿzn), borrowing from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ). Doublet of dram, drachma, diram, dirham, and adarme.