Abbreviations For Weight Units

Most people will be familiar with common abbreviations for weights such as kg for kilograms and lb for pounds, however there are many that you may not be so familiar with and need to look up from time to time. A list of all abbreviations for metric, imperial and troy weight units are given on this page.

Metric Unit Abbreviations

Metric weight units use the standard SI prefixes in the vast majority of cases, there are a couple of non-standard metric weight units, the metric ton and the carat which also have abbreviations.

Although the kilogram is the base unit of the SI metric weight system, all units have prefixes based on the gram.

Table of Standard Metric Units

Unit Abbreviation Factor
gram g 100
decigram dg 10-1
centigram cg 10-2
milligram mg 10-3
microgram μg 10-6
nanogram ng 10-9
picogram pg 10-12
femtogram fg 10-15
attogram ag 10-18
zeptogram zg 10-21
yoctogram yg 10-24
Unit Abbreviation Factor
gram g 100
decagram dag 101
hectogram hg 102
kilogram kg 103
megagram Mg 106
gigagram Gg 109
teragram Tg 1012
petagram Pg 1015
exagram Eg 1018
zettagram Zg 1021
yottagram Yg 1024

Non Standard Metric Units

The two commonly used non-standard metric units the metric ton (tonne) and the carat have abbreviations as follows:

Unit Abbreviation Notes
carat CD CD is the ANSI standard abbreviation - CT is often used in the jewellery industry.
metric ton t The abbreviations mt and MT are also used in the US. T and mT have also been used.

Converters available: Metric to Imeprial, Metric to Troy and Metric to Metric

Imperial Unit Abbreviations

Imperial unit abbreviations are common across the both the British imperial system and the US customary system apart from an alternative abbreviation for the long and short tons.

Unit Abbreviation Notes
grain gr Also used in the Troy system.
dram dr Also known as the drachm.
ounce oz
pound lb For more than one pound the abbreviation lbs is sometimes used.
stone st
quarter qtr
hundreweight cwt
ton t The US customary ton is sometimes known as the short ton, abbreviation sh. tn. or sh. t., and the British imperial ton is sometimes known as the long ton, abbreviation l. tn. or l. t.

Converters available: Imperial to Metric, Imperial to Troy and Imperial to Imperial

Troy Unit Abbreviations

Troy units are very similar to imperial units and similar abbreviations are used.

Unit Abbreviation Notes
grain gr Also used in the imperial system, they are exactly the same.
pennyweight dwt Alternative abbreviations that are sometimes used are pwt and PW.
troy ounce oz t
troy pound lb t Sometimes just abbreviated as troy.

Converters available: Troy to Metric, Troy to Imperial and Troy to Troy