Editing Hand (unit) (section)

===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
|}