Pood (Russian: пуд, pud), is a unit of mass equal to 40 funt (фунт, Russian pound). It is approximately 16.38 kilograms (36.11 pounds).[1] It was used in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Pood was first mentioned in a number of documents of the 12th century.
Together with other units of weight of the Imperial Russian weight measurement system, pood was abolished in the USSR in 1924.
Its usage is preserved in modern Russian in certain specific cases, e.g., in reference to sports weights, such as traditional Russian kettlebells, cast in multiples and fractions of 16 kg (which is pood rounded to metric units). For example, a 24 kg kettlebell is commonly referred to as "one-and-half pood kettlebell" (polutorapudovaya girya). It is also sometimes used when reporting the amounts of bulk agricultural production, such as grains or potatoes.
An old Russian proverb reads, "You never know a man until you have eaten a pood of salt with him."
Information is courtesy of Wikipedia (so may not be absolute fact exactly)
