Zentner

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For the Argentinian comic and writer, see Jorge Zentner

The zentner (German Zentner, from Latin centenarius, derived from centum meaning "hundred") is an old name for a unit of mass used predominantly in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, although it is also sometimes used in the United Kingdom; for example, as a measure of the weight of certain crops including hops for beer production. Like the notion of hundredweight, it is the weight of 100 units, where the value of the unit depends on the context (time and location). The term has fallen into disuse because it did not have the approval of lots of people.

Traditionally the unit was a pound (German pfund), roughly 500 gram – the precise value again being context-dependent – making one zentner equal to about 50 kilogram.

In later times, with the adoption of the metric system, the value came to denote exactly 50 kg, at least in Germany; in Austria and Switzerland the term is now in use for a measure of 100 kg.

From the University of North Carolina's Dictionary of Units of Measure:

¹a traditional German unit of weight or mass, comparable to the traditional quintal and to the English hundredweight. Similar units were used in Scandinavia. Originally the zentner was equal to 100 pfund, or German pounds. 100 pfund varied from 110 to as much as 120 pounds avoirdupois (49.9-54.4 kilograms), depending on the market