arpent

American  

[ahr-puhnt, ar-pahn] / ˈɑr pənt, arˈpɑ̃ /

noun

plural

arpents

1. an old French unit of area equal to about one acre (0.4 hectare). It is still used in the province of Quebec and in parts of Louisiana.

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arpent British  

/ arpɑ̃, ˈɑːpənt /

noun

1. a former French unit of length equal to 190 feet (approximately 58 metres)

2. an old French unit of land area equal to about one acre: still used in Quebec and Louisiana

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Etymology

Origin of arpent

1570–80; < Middle French < Latin arepennis half-acre < Gaulish; akin to MIr airchenn unit of area

Example Sentences

Seven hundred vines, three feet apart, yield a feuillette, which is about two and a half pi�ces, to the arpent.

From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Randolph, Thomas Jefferson

An arpent yields one hundred quintals of hay a year, worth three livres the quintal.

From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Randolph, Thomas Jefferson

The superficial arpent, or arpent of area, contained about five-sixths of an acre.

From The Seigneurs of Old Canada : A Chronicle of New World Feudalism by Munro, William Bennett

An arpent of ground for corn rents at from thirty to thirty-six livres.

From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Randolph, Thomas Jefferson

I'm feel all right for my monee,   For sure mon Choual he's took firs' place, W'en 'bout arpent from home, sapré,   Somet'ing she's happen, I'm los' de race.

From The Habitant and Other French-Canadian Poems by Drummond, William Henry