Livre

Livre, the name of an ancient French coin, derived from the Roman Libra. There were livres of different values, the most important being the Livre Tournois (of Tours), which was considered the standard, and the Livre Parisis (of Paris), which was equal to five-fourths of a livre Tournois. It was divided into 20 sous, each of 12 deniers. In 1795 the livre was superseded by the franc (80 francs = 81 livres Tournois).—LIVRE was also the ancient French unit of weight, and was equal to about 1 lb. avoirdupois; the kilogramme (see GRAMME) has taken its place.