An old unit of weight used in pharmacies and medicine, equal to about 3.9 grams or one-eighth of an ounce.
From Greek drakhmē, originally a unit of currency and weight in ancient Greece. The word likely derives from the verb drassesthai meaning 'to grasp,' referring to a handful as a measure. The term was adopted into Latin and eventually into English medical terminology during the Middle Ages.
The drachm is why pharmacists still sometimes use the symbol ℨ (from the Latin dram abbreviation) on prescriptions today—it's a ghost word from when doctors measured medicine by weight rather than volume, and the ancient Greek system was so practical that it stuck around for over 2,000 years!
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