The hand is a non-SI unit of measurement of length, now used only for the measurement of the height of horses in some English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA.[1] With origins in ancient Egypt, it was originally based on the breadth of a human hand. It is today equal to four inches, and thus, following the adoption of the international inch in 1959, equal to exactly 10.16 centimetres. It may be abbreviated to "h" or the plural "hh".[2] Although measurements between whole hands are usually expressed in what appears to be decimal format, the subdivision of the hand is not decimal but is in base 4, that is, subdivisions after the radix point are in quarters.[1]
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The hand, sometimes also called a handbreadth or handsbreadth, is an anthropic unit, originally based on the breadth of a male human hand, either with or without the thumb,[1] or on the height of a clenched fist.[3]
On surviving Ancient Egyptian cubit-rods, the royal cubit is divided into seven palms of four digits or fingers each.[4] Five digits are equal to a hand, with thumb; and six to a closed fist.[5] The royal cubit measured approximately 525 mm,[6] so the length of the ancient Egyptian hand was about 94 mm.
| Name | Egyptian name | Equivalent Egyptian values | Metric equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal cubit | meh niswt | 7 palms or 28 digits | 525 mm |
| Fist | 6 digits | 108 mm | |
| Hand | 5 digits | 94 mm | |
| Palm | shesep | 4 digits | 75 mm |
| Digit | djeba | 1/4 palm | 19 mm |
In Biblical exegesis the hand measurement, as for example in the Vision of the Temple, Authorized Version Ezekiel 40:43, is usually taken to be palm or handbreadth, and in modern translations may be rendered as "handbreadth"[7] or "three inches".[8]
The hand is a traditional unit in Britain.[1] It was standardised at four inches by a statute of King Henry VIII in 1541,[9] but some confusion between the various types of hand measurement, and particularly between the hand and the handsbreadth, appears to have persisted. Phillips's dictionary of 1706 gives four inches for the length of the handful or hand, and three inches for the handsbreadth;[10] Mortimer gives the same, three inches for the Hand's-breadth, and four for the "Handful, or simply, Hand",[9] but adds
"The hand among horse-dealers, &c. is four-fingers' breadth, being the fist clenched, whereby the height of a horse is measured"
thus equating "hand" with both the palm and the fist. Similarly, Wright's 1831 translation of Buffon mentions "A hand breadth (palmus), the breadth of the four fingers of the hand, or three inches",[11] but the Encyclopædia Perthensis of 1816 gives under Palm (4): "A hand, or measure of lengths comprising three inches".[12]
Today the hand is used for measurement of the height of horses,[1] ponies, and other equines. It is used in several countries, including the USA and some that have formally adopted the metric system, such as Australia, Canada, Ireland and the UK. In most of the world, including continental Europe, and in all FEI-regulated international competition, horses are measured in metric units, usually metres or centimetres. In some countries, such as South Africa, measurements may be given in both hands and centimetres.[1]
In those countries where hands are the usual unit for measuring horse height, inches rather than hands are commonly used in the measurement of miniature horses, miniature ponies,[13] miniature mules,[14] donkeys,[15] and Shetland ponies.[16]
A horse is measured from the ground to the top of the highest non-variable point of the skeleton, the withers.[1] For official measurement, the spinous process of the fifth thoracic vertebra may be identified by palpation, and marked if necessary.[17] Miniature horses, but not miniature ponies, may be measured at the base of the last true hairs of the mane rather than at the withers.[13]
For international competition regulated by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) and for USEF competition in the USA, a horse can be measured with shoes on or off. In the United Kingdom much official measurement of horses is overseen by the Joint Measurement Board (JMB). For JMB purposes, the shoes must be removed before measurement and the hooves correctly prepared for shoeing.[17]
It may be abbreviated to "h", or "hh". The "hh" form is sometimes interpreted as standing for "hands high."[18][19][20] Because this is a base 4 system a horse 64 inches high is not 15.4, but rather is 16.0 hands high.[1] When spoken aloud, hands are stated by numbers, 15.0 is "fifteen hands", 15.2 is alternately "fifteen-two" or "fifteen hands, two inches," and so on.[21][19][20]
To convert inches to hands, the number is divided by four, then the remainder is added after the radix point. Thus, a horse that measures 60 inches is 15 hands high (15 x 4 -60) and a horse halfway between 15 and 16 hands, 62 inches tall, is 15.2 hands.(15 x 4 +2=62)[21][19] Because this is a base 4 system a horse 64 inches high is not 15.4, but rather is 16.0 hands high. [1] The term "15.5" is also incorrect, as it would read 15 hands and five inches high, when a hand is four inches. It does not mean a horse halfway between 15 and 16 hands.[22]