Pounds to Stones

About Pounds and Stones

Pounds (lb): From the Roman libra pondo, 'a pound by weight' (the abbreviation lb comes from libra); the avoirdupois pound is exactly 0.45359237 kilograms by 1959 international agreement. Common uses: US body weight, US shipping, US livestock, US agriculture, and athletic equipment in the United States; UK food labeling sometimes still includes pounds alongside the metric kg.

Stones (st): A British unit equal to 14 pounds (about 6.35 kg), originally for trade in raw materials by the stone (literally — large stones used for trade weights). Common uses: British body weight in casual conversation ('I weigh 11 stone 4'), still widely used in the UK and Ireland; not used in the US and rarely in other countries.

How the conversion works

Mass conversions use the SI definition: 1 pound is exactly 0.45359237 kilograms. The factor above is the exact ratio between pound and stone.

The exact relationship is stones = pounds × 7.14285714e-2, which the calculator at the top of this page applies in both directions. Type into either field and the other updates immediately.

When this conversion matters

Converting between pounds and stones comes up wherever weight & mass measurements move between systems — from one country's conventions to another's, from a scientific reference to a practical specification, or from one industry's working unit to another's. The calculator and reference table above cover the everyday range; for unusual values you can type any number into either field.