What does yug mean?
Yug is an obsolete English noun denoting a very small traditional Indian unit of weight. Its standard definition gives it as one-eightieth of a tola, with the tola serving as the larger reference unit in older Indian systems of weight and measure. The term belongs to the vocabulary of historical British India rather than ordinary modern English and appears chiefly in older dictionaries, reference works, and accounts of weights and measures. In context, a yug could serve as the denomination in which a small quantity of a substance, such as a medicine or precious material, was weighed. Because the measure is obscure, surviving usage examples are limited, and the word should be understood as historical terminology. A reader encountering yug should therefore recognize both its narrowly defined metrological meaning and its obsolete status.
nounAn obsolete Indian unit of weight equal to one-eightieth of a tola.
- An obsolete Indian unit of weight equal to one-eightieth of a tola.
"The apothecary weighed the powdered drug in yugs."
"The scale was marked in tolas and yugs."
"The merchant recorded the weight of the spice in yugs."
The regular English plural is yugs, although the word itself is obsolete.
"The ledger lists the weights in tolas, mashes, and yugs."
One yug was only 1/80 of a tola—a tiny unit in India’s old weight system.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of yug
The English word yug was borrowed from Hindi yūg, a term used in an older Indian system of weight. It entered English in the context of British rule in India and remained primarily associated with references to Indian weights and measures. Its Sanskrit relative yuga and the cognate English word yoke belong to an older Indo-European tradition associated with joining or pairing.
How yug is actually used
This is specialized historical terminology from British India. It has no common modern use in general English.