Lb vs Lbs
In the measurement system, there are different units to measure mass or weight. Pound happens to be the imperial measurement unit of mass whereas the metric unit of measurement of mass is kilogram. Lb happens to be the abbreviation of pound though it comes from a Roman word Libra and has nothing to do with the word pound. Many people write lbs to reflect the fact that they are mentioning many pounds of weight. This means that both lb and lbs reflect the same fact of unit of mass. However, there are also people who remain confused between lb and lbs and do not know which one they should use in written language. This article takes a closer look.
Libra was the unit of weight used by ancient Romans. The imperial unit pound is represented by an abbreviation called lb that comes from this word libra. Though libra has been estimated to have a value of around 322 grams and a pound has a value of 453 grams, it is customary to write lb as a suffix for pound. People write lb when they are talking of one pound or a single pound but write lbs to indicate the fact that they are talking about many pounds. Thus, they use lbs as a plural for lb that stands for a pound.
Summary
Lb vs Lbs
The imperial unit of mass is pound that has the abbreviation lb. It comes from the Roman libra that was the unit of mass used by ancient Romans. lb is the correct abbreviation to be used both as singular as well as plural. This means that one can make use of the suffix even when talking about several pounds, and there is no need to make use of lbs that is rather incorrect though it has become quite common among people.