Dram (unit)
unit of mass or volume in different systems
The dram (alternative British spelling drachm; apothecary symbol ʒ abbreviated dr) is a unit of mass in the avoirdupois system, and both a unit of mass and a unit of volume in the apothecaries' system. It was originally both a coin and a weight in ancient Greece. The unit of volume is more correctly called a fluid dram, fluid drachm, fluidram or fluidrachm (abbreviated fl dr, ƒ 3, or fʒ).
Ancient unit of mass
The Attic Greek drachma (δραχμή) was a weight of 6 obols, 1⁄100 Greek mina, or about 4.37 grams.
The Roman drachma was a weight of 1⁄96 Roman pounds, or about 3.41 grams.
A coin weighing one drachma is known as a stater, drachm, or drachma. The Ottoman dirhem (Ottoman Turkish: درهم) was based on the Sassanian drachm, which was itself based on the Roman dram/drachm.
British unit of mass
The British Weights and Measures Act 1878 introduced verification and consequent stamping of apothecary weights, making them officially recognized units of measurement. By 1900, Britain had enforced the distinction between the avoirdupois and apothecaries' versions by making the spelling different:
dram now meant only avoirdupois drams, which were 1⁄16 of an avoirdupois ounce. An ounce consisted of 437.5 grains, thus making the dram exactly 27.34375 grains.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dram (unit)” as unit of mass or volume in different systems. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as unit of mass or volume in different systems. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1255620. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1878 and 1900.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dram (unit)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.