Names and Etymology
The English word tael comes through Portuguese from the Malay word tahil, meaning "weight". Early English forms of the name such as "tay" or "taes" derive from the Portuguese plural of tael, taeis.
Tahil (/ˈtɑːhɪl/ in Singaporean English) is used in Malay and English today when referring to the weight in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei where it is still used in some contexts especially related to the significant Overseas Chinese population.
In Chinese, tael is written 兩 (simplified Chinese: 两) and pronounced liǎng in Mandarin Chinese. In Chinese and Vietnamese, the phrase "half a catty, eight taels" (半斤八兩 and kẻ tám lạng người nửa cân, respectively), meaning two different presentations of the same thing (similar to the English phrase "Six of one and half-a-dozen of the other"), is still often used today.
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