Thequintal orcentner is a historical unit ofmass in many countries which is usually defined as 100 base units, such aspounds orkilograms.^[1] It is a traditional unit of weight in France, Portugal, and Spain and their former colonies. It is commonly used forgrain prices in wholesale markets in Ethiopia, Eritrea and India, where 1 quintal = 100 kg (220 lb).^[2]

InBritish English, it referred to thehundredweight; inAmerican English, it formerly referred to anuncommon measurement of 100 kg (220 lb).

Languages drawing its cognate name for the weight fromRomance languages include French, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanishquintal, Italianquintale, Esperantokvintalo, Polishkwintal. Languages taking their cognates from Germanicizedcentner include the GermanZentner, Lithuaniancentneris, Swedishcentner, Polishcetnar, Russian and Ukrainianцентнер (tsentner) and Estoniantsentner.

Many European languages have come to translate both theBritishhundredweight (8 stone or 112 pounds [50.80 kg]) and theAmericanhundredweight (100 pounds [45.36 kg]), as their cognate form ofquintal orcentner.

The concept has resulted in two different series of masses: Those based on the local pound (which aftermetrication was considered equivalent to 0.5 kg (1.1 lb), and those uprated to being based on the kilogram.

In Albania (kuintal), Ethiopia (kuntal), andIndia, the 100 kg (220 lb) definition may have been introduced via Islamic^{[citation needed]} trade. It is a standard measurement of mass for agricultural products in those countries.

In France it used to be defined as 100livres (pounds), about 48.95 kg (108 lb), and has been redefined as 100 kg (mesures usuelles), thus calledmetric quintal with symbolqq. InSpain, thequintal is still defined as 100libras, or about 46 kg (101 lb), but themetric quintal is also defined as 100 kg;^[3] In Portugal a quintal is 128arráteis or about 58.75 kg (130 lb).

The GermanZentner and the Danishcentner are pound-based, and thus since metrication are defined as 50 kg (110 lb), whereas the Austrian and SwissZentner since metrication has been re-defined as 100 kg. In Germany a measure of 100 kg is named aDoppelzentner.

In Italy, thequintale is commonly used to refer to 100 kg and is abbreviated toq, but the usage is considered informal and is not considered legally valid since 1990.^[4]

Common agricultural units used in theSoviet Union were the 100 kgtsentner (центнер) and the term "tsentner perhectare". These are still used by countries that were part of the Soviet Union.

InEnglish both termsquintal andcentner were once alternative names for thehundredweight and thus defined either as 100 lb (exactly 45.359237 kg) or as 112 lb (50.80 kg). Also, in theDominican Republic it is about 125 lb (56.70 kg). The GermanZentner was introduced to the English language viaHanseatic trade as a measure of the weight of certaincrops includinghops forbeer production. Commonly used in the Dominion (and later province) of Newfoundland up until the 1960s as a measure for 112 lb (51 kg) of salt cod.

Thequintal was defined in the United States in 1866^[5] as 100 kg (220 lb). However, it is no longer used in the United States or by theNational Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), though it still appears in the statute.^[6]

In France, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Indonesia, and India, it is still in daily use by farmers. It is also used inBrazil and other South American countries and in some African countries includingAngola.^[7]

• Kasson Act (1866)
• Hundredweight
• Zentner