Editing Hand (unit) (section)

==History==
===Ancient Egypt===
{{main|Ancient Egyptian units of measurement}}
[[File:Coudée-turin detail.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Detail of the cubit rod in the [[Museo Egizio]] of [[Turin]], showing digit, palm, hand and fist lengths]]
The hand, sometimes also called a handbreadth or handsbreadth, is an [[anthropic unit]], originally based on the breadth of a [[male]] [[human]] hand, either with or without the thumb,<ref name=omafra/> or on the height of a clenched fist.<ref name=pant/>

On surviving [[Ancient Egyptian units of measurement|Ancient Egyptian]] [[Measuring rod#Ancient Egypt|cubit-rods]], the [[Cubit#Ancient Egyptian royal cubit|royal cubit]] is divided into seven [[Palm (length)|palms]] of four [[Digit (unit)|digits]] or [[Finger (unit)|fingers]] each.<ref name=selin/> Five digits are equal to a hand, with thumb; and six to a closed fist.<ref name=clagett/> The royal cubit measured approximately 525&nbsp;mm,<ref name=lepsius/> so the width of the ancient Egyptian hand was about 94&nbsp;mm.
{| class="wikitable"| style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; width: 75%; nowrap"
|+'''Ancient Egyptian units of length'''<ref name=clagett/>
!|Name!! |Egyptian name!!align="center"|Equivalent Egyptian values!! |Metric equivalent!! |Imperial equivalent 
|-
|Royal cubit ||  <small><hiero>M23-t:n-D42</hiero> </small> ''meh niswt'' || align="center" | 7 palms or 28 digits || align="center" | 525&nbsp;mm&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; || align="center" |20.67 in
|-
|Fist ||  <!---<small><hiero>?</hiero> </small> '' ??? ''---> ||align="center" | 6 digits ||align="center" | 108&nbsp;mm&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|| align="center" |4.25 in
|-
|Hand ||  <!---<small><hiero>?</hiero> </small> '' ??? ''---> ||align="center" | 5 digits ||align="center" | 94&nbsp;mm&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|| align="center" |3.70 in
|-
|Palm ||  <small><hiero>D48</hiero> </small> ''shesep'' || align="center" | 4 digits||align="center" | 75&nbsp;mm&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|| align="center" |2.95 in
|-
|Digit ||  <small><hiero> D50</hiero> </small> ''djeba'' || align="center" | 1/4 palm ||align="center" | 19&nbsp;mm&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|| align="center" |0.75 in
|}

=== Biblical use ===
In Biblical [[exegesis]] the hand measurement, as for example in the Vision of the Temple, [[Authorized Version]] {{Bibleverse||Ezekiel|40:43|KJV}}, is usually taken to be [[palm (unit)|palm]] or handbreadth, and in modern translations may be rendered as "handbreadth"<ref name=niv/> or "three inches".<ref name=ncv/>

===United Kingdom===
{{main|English units}}
The hand is a traditional unit in the UK.<ref name=omafra/> It was standardised at four inches by a statute of King [[Henry VIII]], the [[Horses Act 1540]] ([[32 Hen. 8]]. c. 13),<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000017915533;view=2up;seq=822;size=300 32 Hen. 8. c. 13]: An Acte for Bryde of Horses.</ref><ref name=mort/> but some confusion between the various types of hand measurement, and particularly between the hand and the handsbreadth, appears to have persisted. Phillips's dictionary of 1706 gives four inches for the length of the handful or hand, and three inches for the handsbreadth;<ref name=phil/> [[Thomas Mortimer (writer)|Mortimer]] gives the same, three inches for the Hand's-breadth, and four for the "Handful, or simply, Hand",<ref name=mort/> but adds "The hand among horse-dealers, &c. is four-fingers' breadth, being the fist clenched, whereby the height of a horse is measured", thus equating "hand" with both the palm and the fist. Similarly, Wright's 1831 translation of [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon|Buffon]] mentions "A hand breadth (palmus), the breadth of the four fingers of the hand, or three inches",<ref name=buffon/> but the ''[[Encyclopædia Perthensis]]'' of 1816 gives under Palm (4): "A hand, or measure of lengths comprising three inches".<ref name=perth/>