The word arroba has its origin in Arabic ar-rubʿ (الربع), the fourth part (of a quintal

Quintal

Quintal may refer to:* Quintal , a unit of mass* Quartal and quintal harmony in music* Quintal, Haute-Savoie, a commune of the Haute-Savoie département in France* Stéphane Quintal, NHL ice hockey player...

).

Arroba was a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 customary unit of weight, mass or volume. Its symbol is @

At sign

The at sign , also called the ampersat, apetail, arroba, atmark, at symbol, commercial at or monkey tail, is formally an abbreviation of the accounting and commercial invoice term "at the rate of"...

. In weight it was equal to 25 pounds (11.5 kg) in Spain, and 32 pounds (14.7 kg) in Portugal.

The unit is still used in Portugal by cork

Cork (material)

Cork is an impermeable, buoyant material, a prime-subset of bark tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber , which is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa...

 merchants, and in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 by cattle traders. The modern metric arroba used in these country life activities is defined as 15 kilograms (33.1 lb).

In Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 the arroba is equivalent to 11.5 kilograms (25.4 lb).

In Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

 nationally it is equivalent to 30.46 litres (64.4 US pt). However locally there are many different values, ranging from 11.5 litres (24.3 US pt) in Inquisivi

Inquisivi

Inquisivi is the capital of the Inquisivi Province in the La Paz Department, Bolivia. It was officially named on Nov. 2, 1844. Residents of Inquisivi are called Inquisivenos....

 to 16 litres (33.8 US pt) in Baures

Baures

Baures is a town in Iténez Province, Beni Department, in northern Bolivia. It is the capital of Baures Municipality..-External links:*...

.