# Dram (unit)

The dram (British spelling drachm; apothecary symbol ʒ; abbreviated dr) is a small traditional unit of weight in the [avoirdupois](https://www.edgepedia.org/avoirdupois) and apothecaries' systems, and, as the fluid dram, a unit of volume. The word descends from the Greek *drakhmē* (δραχμή), literally "a handful," which named both a weight and the principal silver coin of ancient Greece, worth six obols.<sup>[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/dram)</sup> The same unit name survives today in three distinct measures, a Scottish pour of whisky, and a labeling convention on shotgun ammunition.

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Avoirdupois dram | 1/16 ounce, 27.34 grains (1.77 g); exactly 1.7718451953125 g since the 1959 international yard and pound agreement<sup>[2](https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=dram)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.toolfoundry.app/conversion/drams-to-grams-converter)</sup> |
| Apothecaries dram (drachm) | 1/8 apothecaries ounce, 60 grains (3.89 g), more than twice the avoirdupois dram<sup>[2](https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=dram)</sup> |
| US fluid dram | 1/8 fluid ounce (exactly), 0.226 cubic inch, 3.697 milliliters<sup>[4](https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/hb/2026/NIST.HB.44-2026.pdf)</sup> |
| British fluid drachm | 0.961 US fluid dram, 3.552 milliliters<sup>[4](https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/hb/2026/NIST.HB.44-2026.pdf)</sup> |
| Etymology | Mid-15th century, from Greek *drakhmē*, "handful" (of six obols), akin to *drassesthai*, "to grasp"<sup>[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/dram)</sup> |
| Drink sense | "A small drink of liquor" from 1713; dram shop from 1725<sup>[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/dram)</sup> |
| UK status | Apothecaries' units, including the fluid drachm, illegal for trade in drugs from 1 January 1971<sup>[5](https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1970-11-02/debates/e335981d-34a1-4ba7-abf4-203b9e3d1c5c/OrdersOfTheDay)</sup> |

## Etymology

English took the word in the mid-15th century as a phonetic spelling of Anglo-Latin *dragma*, through [Old French](https://www.edgepedia.org/old-french) *drame* and [Late Latin](https://www.edgepedia.org/late-latin) *dragma*, from Latin *drachma*, from Greek *drakhma*, a measure of weight and silver coin. The Greek word literally means "a handful" of six obols, the least valuable coins of ancient Athens, and is akin to *drassesthai*, "to grasp"; its deeper origin is uncertain, perhaps Pre-Greek. Arabic *dirham* and the Armenian *dram* currency also derive from the Greek.<sup>[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/dram)</sup> Middle English used the word in the weight sense as one-eighth of an ounce in apothecaries' weight, which became the dram.<sup>[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/dram)</sup>

## Weight units

**Avoirdupois dram.** In the US Customary System the dram is 1/16 of an ounce, or 27.34 grains (1.77 grams); 16 drams make an ounce and 256 drams a pound.<sup>[2](https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=dram)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED082013.pdf)</sup> Because the 1959 international agreement fixed the pound at exactly 0.45359237 kg, the avoirdupois dram is an exact number of kilograms, 1.7718451953125 g.<sup>[3](https://www.toolfoundry.app/conversion/drams-to-grams-converter)</sup>

**Apothecaries dram.** In apothecaries' weight the dram (British spelling drachm, symbol ʒ) is larger: 3 scruples of 20 grains each make 1 dram of 60 grains, and 8 drams make 1 apothecaries ounce of 480 grains.<sup>[7](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-C13-466e59bf3a20481aafb33f24ea0aafcd/pdf/GOVPUB-C13-466e59bf3a20481aafb33f24ea0aafcd.pdf)</sup> The grain is the same in the avoirdupois, troy, and apothecaries systems, so the apothecaries dram of 60 grains is more than twice the avoirdupois dram of 27.34 grains.<sup>[7](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-C13-466e59bf3a20481aafb33f24ea0aafcd/pdf/GOVPUB-C13-466e59bf3a20481aafb33f24ea0aafcd.pdf)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=dram)</sup> A modern convention reserves "drachm" for the apothecaries weight and "dram" for the avoirdupois unit, but historians of pharmacy note that in 18th- and 19th-century Britain "dram" was most frequently used for the apothecaries weight, so the spelling alone does not settle which unit a text means.<sup>[8](https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/B1BA0BF129A9AAEF23896EDCFDC82561/S0025727300013946a.pdf/pharmaceutical-history-and-its-sources-in-the-wellcome-collections-ii-drug-weighing-in-britain-c-17001900.pdf)</sup>

## Fluid dram

As a volume, the US fluid dram (fl dr, symbol ƒ3) is exactly 1/8 of a US fluid ounce, 0.226 cubic inch, or 3.697 milliliters; the British fluid drachm is slightly smaller at 3.552 milliliters, because the Imperial gallon is divided into 160 fluid ounces while the US gallon is divided into 128.<sup>[4](https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/hb/2026/NIST.HB.44-2026.pdf)</sup> In the British apothecaries' fluid measure the fluid drachm equals 3 fluid scruples or 60 minims, and 8 fluid drachms make a fluid ounce.<sup>[7](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-C13-466e59bf3a20481aafb33f24ea0aafcd/pdf/GOVPUB-C13-466e59bf3a20481aafb33f24ea0aafcd.pdf)</sup> For household purposes one fluid dram is about 3.7 mL, or three-quarters of a teaspoonful.<sup>[9](https://www.nist.gov/pml/owm/metric-household)</sup>

The unit has largely left official use. In the United Kingdom, the 1963 Weights and Measures Act restricted apothecaries' units to drugs, and from 1 January 1971 they could no longer be used for trade in drugs or any other commodity; a 1970 Order formally abolished the apothecaries' system, including the minim, fluid drachm, and fluid scruple.<sup>[5](https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1970-11-02/debates/e335981d-34a1-4ba7-abf4-203b9e3d1c5c/OrdersOfTheDay)</sup> The Weights and Measures Act 1985 still lists the fluid drachm as 1/8 fluid ounce among units that may not be used for trade.<sup>[10](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/72/pdfs/ukpga_19850072_en.pdf)</sup> In the United States, pharmacy practice has moved to metric dosing, with recommendations that prescription labels for oral liquids use milliliters instead of units including the dram.<sup>[11](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7970405/)</sup>

## The dram as a drink

Because the fluid dram is one-eighth of a fluid ounce, the word came to mean "a small drink of liquor" by 1713, and "dram shop," a place selling liquor by the shot, appeared by 1725.<sup>[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/dram)</sup> In Scottish usage a dram can be a drink of any size, especially whisky, and the phrase "a wee dram" is a familiar offer of a small pour.<sup>[12](https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/dram_n1_v1)</sup> The informal dram is much larger than the fluid dram of measurement: UK law permits spirits to be sold by the glass in 25 ml or 35 ml, and a Scottish dram is usually 35 ml against an English 25 ml, while a bartender's fluid dram of about 3.7 mL would read as a joke.<sup>[13](https://thedramdesk.com/accessories/what-is-a-dram)</sup> A single 25 ml measure of Scotch contains 1 unit of alcohol.<sup>[14](https://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/industry-insights/a-responsible-industry/made-to-be-measured/)</sup>

## Dram equivalent in ammunition

**Dram equivalent** is a holdover from black-powder shotshells. A dram was strictly a weight measure, 1/16 ounce or 1/256 pound, but black powder was normally measured by volume; three drams of black powder with 1⅛-oz shot in a 12-gauge gun produced a muzzle velocity of about 1,200 ft/sec.<sup>[15](https://saami.org/faqs/)</sup> When smokeless propellants arrived, the "dram equivalent" system was developed to relate the velocity of a smokeless load, for a given shot weight, to the black-powder loads shooters knew; a box marked "3 Dram Equivalent" delivers the force of 3 drams of black powder.<sup>[15](https://saami.org/faqs/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[16](https://www.shotgunlife.com/shotguns/guns/shotgun-shells.html)</sup>

The [Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/sporting-arms-and-ammunition-manufacturers-institute) (SAAMI), the US firearms and ammunition industry's standards body, warns against confusing the two senses: a volumetric 3-dram measure of modern fast-burning smokeless powder is approximately 40 grains, about a double charge, and a dram must never be used as a weight measure for smokeless powders. A low dram equivalent does not mean low pressure, since modern shotshells of any dram equivalent are loaded to approximately the same pressure level.<sup>[15](https://saami.org/faqs/)</sup>

## Related names

The Greek root spread widely. The [Armenian dram](https://www.edgepedia.org/armenian-dram) (Armenian: դրամ) is the national currency, borrowed through Middle Persian *drahm* from Greek *drakhmē*.<sup>[17](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dram)</sup> The Arabic dirham has the same origin, and the Turkish dirhem was a weight of about 49.5 grains in the Ottoman system.<sup>[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/dram)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[18](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica%2C_Ninth_Edition/Meter)</sup> The ancient [Greek drachma](https://www.edgepedia.org/greek-drachma) coin itself weighed roughly 4.3 g as a weight unit, and the Roman drachm about 3.41 g, values in the same 3 to 4 gram range as the apothecaries' drachm.<sup>[19](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drachm)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[20](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/medieval-european-coinage/metrology-and-compositional-analyses/551EB2A6678806601F52E8909EAB12F1)</sup>

## References

1. [Dram - Etymology, Origin & Meaning, Online Etymology Dictionary](https://www.etymonline.com/word/dram)
2. [Dram, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language](https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=dram)
3. [Drams to grams converter, ToolFoundry](https://www.toolfoundry.app/conversion/drams-to-grams-converter)
4. [NIST Handbook 44-2026, Appendix C, General Tables of Units of Measurement](https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/hb/2026/NIST.HB.44-2026.pdf)
5. [Weights And Measures (Metrication), Hansard, House of Commons, 2 November 1970](https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1970-11-02/debates/e335981d-34a1-4ba7-abf4-203b9e3d1c5c/OrdersOfTheDay)
6. [Firearms dictionary entries: DRAM, ERIC ED082013](https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED082013.pdf)
7. [Letter Circular 1035: Units and Systems of Weights and Measures, NBS/NIST](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-C13-466e59bf3a20481aafb33f24ea0aafcd/pdf/GOVPUB-C13-466e59bf3a20481aafb33f24ea0aafcd.pdf)
8. [Crellin, J. K. and Scott, J. R., Pharmaceutical history and its sources in the Wellcome Collections. II. Drug weighing in Britain, c. 1700-1900, Medical History](https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/B1BA0BF129A9AAEF23896EDCFDC82561/S0025727300013946a.pdf/pharmaceutical-history-and-its-sources-in-the-wellcome-collections-ii-drug-weighing-in-britain-c-17001900.pdf)
9. [Metric Household, NIST SP 430 equivalents](https://www.nist.gov/pml/owm/metric-household)
10. [Weights and Measures Act 1985, Schedule 1, legislation.gov.uk](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/72/pdfs/ukpga_19850072_en.pdf)
11. [NCPDP recommendations for standardizing dosing in metric units (mL) on prescription container labels, PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7970405/)
12. [Dram, n.1, Dictionaries of the Scots Language](https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/dram_n1_v1)
13. [What Is a Dram of Whiskey?, The Dram Desk](https://thedramdesk.com/accessories/what-is-a-dram)
14. [Scotch Whisky: Made to be Measured, Scotch Whisky Association](https://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/industry-insights/a-responsible-industry/made-to-be-measured/)
15. [What does "dram equivalent" mean on shotgun ammunition?, SAAMI FAQs](https://saami.org/faqs/)
16. [Shotgun Shells, Shotgun Life](https://www.shotgunlife.com/shotguns/guns/shotgun-shells.html)
17. [Dram, Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dram)
18. [Weights and Measures, Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, Wikisource](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica%2C_Ninth_Edition/Meter)
19. [Drachm, Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drachm)
20. [Metrology and compositional analyses, Medieval European Coinage, Cambridge Core](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/medieval-european-coinage/metrology-and-compositional-analyses/551EB2A6678806601F52E8909EAB12F1)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Measurement and time › Historical and customary measurement systems › English/US customary (imperial) system*

*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*

*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*

License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license