Equivalence To Other Units of Length
For purposes of measuring cloth, the early yard was divided by the binary method into two, four, eight and sixteen parts. The two most common divisions were the fourth and sixteenth parts. The quarter of a yard was known as the "quarter" without further qualification, while the sixteenth of a yard was called a nail. The eighth of a yard was sometimes called a finger, but was more commonly referred to simply as an eighth of a yard, while the half-yard was called "half a yard".
Other units related to the yard, but not specific to cloth measurement: two yards are a fathom, a quarter of a yard (when not referring to cloth) is a span.
Read more about this topic: Yard
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