Measurements

History

In the year 986 of the Sixth Astral Era, a pirate who had come to Limsa Lominsa wanted to procure sailcloth from the black markets when his purchase fell short of the length for which he believed he had paid. Enraged, he incited a scuffle that left some fifty men dead or wounded. Admiral Agatzahr Roehmerslyn promptly arrested the pirate and lopped his thumb clean off, declaring that it would henceforth serve as the standard measure of an ilm throughout the land. Cast-iron replicas of the buccaneer's severed digit were produced in bulk and distributed around the realm to serve as one-ilm rules, and disputes over vague measurements soon became a thing of the past.

Distances

Unit	Relation	Metric	Metric Relation	Approximation (in-game)
1 ilm	-	1 inch	2.54cm	an adult Hyuran thumb a ripe rolanberry
1 fulm	12 ilms	1 foot	30.48cm	an adult Hyuran foot a grown chocobo tailfeather
1 yalm	3 fulms	1 yard	0.9144m	a bastard sword blade an adult Lalafellin male
1 malm	1760 yalms	1 mile	1.609km	the distance an adult Elezen can run in a tenth bell the approximate height of O'Ghomoro

Weights

Unit	Relation	Metric	Metric Relation	Approximation (in-game)
1 onze	-	1 ounce	28.3495g	an adult Hyuran thumb a 100-gil coin
1 ponze	16 onzes	1 pound	0.4536kg	a merchant's scale stone a block of kukuru butter
1 tonze	2000 ponzes	1 ton	907.1847kg	a fully matured goobbue 600 bottles of Wineport red (1 standard overseas shipment)

Time

Main article: Eorzea Time

Eorzea Time Units	Eorzea Time Sub-Units	Real Time Value
1 minute	60 seconds	2 11/12 seconds
1 bell	60 minutes	2 minutes, 55 seconds
1 sun	24 bells	70 minutes
1 week	8 suns	9 hours and 20 minutes
1 moon	4 weeks	37 hours and 20 minutes
1 year	12 moons	18 days and 16 hours

(Data obtained from ViolaRulan on GitHub.)

Etymology and Reference

The units of measure are based on the International units of Length and Mass and weight - specifically the Avoirdupois (Mass) - for the United States.