Gewîcht

Gewîcht is a term found in some Kurdish-language sources, where it appears as a transliteration or loan from the German Gewicht, meaning weight. Its usage is not universal across dialects, and the precise sense can vary by region and author. In many technical contexts, gewîcht is used to refer specifically to the physical concept of weight as a force, rather than simply to mass.

In physics, weight is the gravitational force exerted on a body by its location in a gravitational field. It is the product of an object's mass and the local acceleration due to gravity: W = m × g. The SI unit of weight is the newton (N). In everyday language, weight is often described using units such as kilograms or pounds, which actually reflect mass as a measure of matter rather than force.

Measurement of weight commonly uses scales that translate the gravitational force into a readable value. The force g varies with location, being approximately 9.81 m/s² on the Earth’s surface, but different on the Moon, Mars, or other celestial bodies. This variability means an object’s weight changes with where it is, while its mass remains the same.

Distinctions are important: mass is an intrinsic property of an object and does not change with location, whereas weight depends on the strength of the gravitational field. In Kurdish educational and scientific texts, gewîcht may appear as the term for weight, though terminology can vary and translations are not always consistent.

See also: Mass, Gravity, Weight (physics), Units of measurement.