uncia

Meaning

1. (declension-1, historical) uncia, a coin of the Roman Republic equal to 1/12 as
2. (declension-1, historical) inch, a length unit, equal to 1/12 of one foot
3. (declension-1, figuratively) An insignificantly small length
4. (declension-1, historical) ounce, a mass unit equal to 1/12 of one pound
5. (declension-1, figuratively) An insignificantly small amount
6. (declension-1, historical) uncia, an area unit equal to 1/12 of one jugerum
7. (declension-1) twelfth, 1/12 of any amount or unit

Concepts

ounce

inch

an ounce

a twelfth

snow leopard

Translations

once

onça

oncia

sneeuwpanter

Irbis

léopard des neiges

Schneeleopard

lleopard de les neus

leopardo delle nevi

sneeuwluipaard

Unze

ons

🇺🇸

leopardo-das-neves

Pronounced as (IPA)

[ˈuːŋ.ki.a]

Etymology

Building upon Varro, most modern Latinists derive this word from ūnicus (“unique”) + -ia, itself from ūnus (“one”) (from Proto-Indo-European *óynos) in the sense of twelfths making up the base unit of various ancient systems of measurement.
Following Heron of Alexandria, Weiss instead postulates a borrowing from Ancient Greek ὀγκία (onkía, “uncia”), from ὄγκος (ónkos, “weight”); he considers the loss of medial /i/ necessitated by the traditional etymology unproblematic but the derivation from "unique" semantically implausible.