pood

The pood (пуд in Cyrillic) is a traditional unit of mass from the old Russian system of weights. One pood equals 40 Russian pounds, which is about 16.38 kilograms, or a little over 36 pounds. For a long time it was used in trade and everyday life to measure things like grain, flour, salt, and metal. Although the Soviet Union officially ended its use in 1924, the word did not vanish completely. It still shows up in historical writing, older translations, and especially in kettlebell training, where bells are often discussed in 1-, 1.5-, and 2-pood sizes.

Its best-known cultural use is in the Russian proverb about "eating a pood of salt" with someone. Since it would take a long time for two people to consume that much salt together, the saying suggests a friendship or partnership tested by years of shared experience. The word is related in origin to the same family as English "pound" and Latin pondus ("weight"). So if you meet pood in a novel, a history book, or a gym conversation, it usually points either to this old Russian measure itself or to the long stretch of time and shared life suggested by the proverb.