Convert Pound to Stone (lb → st)

Converting pounds to stones is straightforward: multiply by the conversion factor. Follow these three steps to do it by hand or in your head.

1. 1
   Take your value in pounds

   Start with the number of pounds (lb) you want to convert.
2. 2
   Multiply by 0.071429

   The conversion factor from lb to st is 0.071429. Multiply your value by this number.
3. 3
   Read the result in stones

   The result is your value in stones (st).

Multiply the value in pounds by 0.071429. For the reverse direction, multiply by 14.

• ✓1 lb ≈ 453.6 g ≈ ½ kg. For mental conversion: kg = lb / 2.2.
• ✓1 lb = 16 oz exactly. American recipes often mix pounds and ounces.
• ✓UK shop labels often show kg and lb together; US labels are pounds only.

• ✗Using 2 instead of 2.205 when converting lb to kg — a 10% error on airline luggage.
• ✗Confusing mass pounds (lb) with pound-force (lbf) in engineering.
• ✗Assuming a British and American pound are different — they are identical (0.45359237 kg).

What is the Pound?

The pound equals exactly 0.45359237 kilograms under the 1959 international yard and pound agreement. The unit's name comes from the Latin 'libra pondo' (a pound by weight), and the abbreviation 'lb' derives from 'libra.' The pound has been the everyday weight unit in English-speaking countries for over a thousand years, with regional variations until 20th-century standardization. Today it remains the primary weight unit in the United States for body weight (a person is '170 lb' rather than 77 kg), groceries, and shipping; in the United Kingdom it persists alongside kilograms, especially for personal weight ('11 stone 4' = 158 lb). The pound relates to the ounce (16 oz = 1 lb), the stone (14 lb = 1 stone), the kilogram (1 lb ≈ 0.454 kg), and the US ton (2,000 lb = 1 ton). The international 'avoirdupois' pound is the common standard, distinct from the troy pound used for precious metals.

• Human body weight in the US and UK
• Grocery and retail food pricing in the US
• Boxing and wrestling weight divisions

What is the Stone?

The stone equals exactly 14 pounds or 6.35029318 kilograms and remains the traditional British unit for personal body weight. Originally based on a stone literally used as a counterweight on a balance scale, the unit was standardized at 14 pounds by an Act of Parliament in 1835. While metrication has reduced its role in commerce, the stone persists in British everyday life — a person is described as '11 stone 4' (158 lb) rather than 72 kg — and is widely used in British and Irish weight-loss programs, medical contexts, and gym equipment. The stone is virtually unknown in the United States and most of the world. It relates to the pound (14 lb = 1 stone), the kilogram (1 stone ≈ 6.35 kg), and the long ton (160 stone = 1 long ton). Stones-and-pounds notation (like '11 st 4 lb') is the British equivalent of decimal kilograms.

• Human body weight in the UK and Ireland
• British medical charts and patient records
• British boxing and wrestling press reports