A rood (; abbreviation: ro) is a historic English and international inch-pound measure of

area Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...

, as well as an archaic English measure of

length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with Dimension (physical quantity), dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a Base unit (measurement), base unit for length is chosen, ...

Etymology

''Rood'' is an archaic word for "pole", from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''rōd'' "pole", specifically "

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

", from

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

''*rodo'', cognate to

Old Saxon Old Saxon (), also known as Old Low German (), was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Eur ...

''rōda'',

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

''ruoda'' "rod"; the relation of ''rood'' to '' rod'', from Old English ''rodd'' "pole", is unclear; the latter was perhaps influenced by

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''rudda'' "club". In

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

, where the rood was also used (before being replaced by metric units around 1800), it was known as a ''vergée'', from the French word ''verge'' (stick, rod), which was borrowed in English (see

virge A virge or verge () is a type of rod, made of wood. Etymology Originally it was one or more branches (the French often use ''verges'', the plural of its equivalent, as the normal word for a rod, the rarer singular ''verge'' rather indicates a ...

Measurement of area

Rood is an

English unit English units were the units of measurement used in England up to 1826 (when they were replaced by Imperial units), which evolved as a combination of the Anglo-Saxon and Roman systems of units. Various standards have applied to English units at ...

of area equal to one quarter of an

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

or 10,890 square feet, exactly . A rectangle that is one

furlong A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile, equivalent to any of 660 foot (unit), feet, 220 yards, 40 rod (unit), rods, 10 chain (unit), chains, or a ...

(i.e., 10

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...

s, or 40 rods) in length and one rod in width is one rood in area, as is any space comprising 40 perches (a perch being one square rod). The ''vergée'' was also a quarter of a Normandy ''acre'', and was equal to 40 square ''perches'' (1 Normandy ''acre'' = 160 square ''perches''). The rood was an important measure in

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of Point (geom ...

on account of its easy conversion to acres. When referring to areas, rod is often found in old documents and has exactly the same meaning as rood.
catalogue of old documents
with many areas quoted in acres, rods, and perches, includin
this one
as recent as 1907.

Linear measure

A rood is also an obsolete British unit of linear measure between . It is related to the German ''Rute'' and the Danish ''rode''. The original

OED The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

of 1914 said this sense was "now only in local use, and varying from 6 to 8 yards" (or 18 to 24 ft, "Rood", II.7).

References

{{Imperial units Imperial units Units of length Units of area Obsolete units of measurement

Etymology

Measurement of area

Linear measure

See also

References