How many drams are in one dekagram?

One dekagram contains approximately 5.644 avoirdupois drams. This comes from 1 dekagram = 10 grams and 1 dram = approximately 1.772 grams.

What is an avoirdupois dram?

The avoirdupois dram is 1/16 of an avoirdupois ounce, about 1.772 grams. It was historically used for spice trading and small commodity weights. It should not be confused with the heavier apothecary dram (3.888 g) or the liquid fluid dram (3.697 ml).

Are either of these units still standard anywhere?

The dekagram is standard for food shopping in Austria, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. The avoirdupois dram is obsolete for most purposes, surviving only in a few American cooking references and ammunition powder specifications.

Dekagrams to Drams (dag to dr) Converter

1 dag = 5.6438 dr

1 Dekagram equals 5.6438 Drams (1 dag = 5.6438 dr). Convert Dekagrams to Drams with formula, table, and examples.

One dekagram equals approximately 5.644 drams (avoirdupois). The dram, at about 1.772 grams, fits roughly 5.6 times into a dekagram. This conversion connects the Austrian grocery unit to an archaic English weight from the spice and apothecary trades - two units that evolved centuries apart on different continents for completely different purposes.

How to Convert Dekagrams to Drams

dr = dag × 5.6438339119

Multiply the value in Dekagrams by 5.6438339119

Take your value in Dekagrams
Multiply by 5.6438339119
Read the result in Drams

Common Dekagrams to Drams Conversions

Dekagrams (dag)	Drams (dr)	Status
0.5 dag	2.8219 dr
1 dag	5.6438 dr
2 dag	11.2877 dr
5 dag	28.2192 dr
10 dag	56.4383 dr
20 dag	112.8767 dr
50 dag	282.1917 dr
100 dag	564.3834 dr
200 dag	1,128.7668 dr
500 dag	2,821.917 dr
1,000 dag	5,643.8339 dr
2,000 dag	11,287.6678 dr
5,000 dag	28,219.1696 dr

Good to Know About Dekagrams to Drams Conversion

The dram and dekagram represent two different solutions to the same problem: how to weigh small quantities of food and spice. The English chose the dram (about 1.77 g), derived from ancient Greek coinage. The Austrians chose the dekagram (10 g), derived from metric logic. Both are reasonable portion-scale units. The dram lost its relevance when the English-speaking world adopted metric for science and ounces for commerce. The dekagram survived because Austrian commerce still speaks its language.

Dekagrams to Drams: What You Need to Know

A dekagram of paprika (a quintessential Austrian spice) weighs about 5.6 drams. Before metrication, British spice merchants sold ground pepper and cinnamon by the dram. Today, an Austrian buying '2 Deka Paprikapulver' at a market stall uses a different unit than Victorian-era British spice merchants did, but both are measuring roughly the same quantities of culinary powder.

What is a Dekagram? dag

A dekagram (also decagram) is 10 grams. While rarely used in most countries, it is the standard unit for buying food at delicatessens in Austria, where it is called 'Deka'.

Metric Austrian food shopping delicatessen trade

Learn more about Dekagram →

What is a Dram? dr

A dram (avoirdupois) is a unit of mass equal to 1/16 of an ounce or 1/256 of a pound (1.7718451953125 grams). Historically used in pharmacy and old cooking recipes.

Imperial historical pharmacy old recipes whisky measurement

Learn more about Dram →

Going the other way? Use our Drams to Dekagrams converter.

Dekagrams to Drams FAQ

One dekagram contains approximately 5.644 avoirdupois drams. This comes from 1 dekagram = 10 grams and 1 dram = approximately 1.772 grams.
The avoirdupois dram is 1/16 of an avoirdupois ounce, about 1.772 grams. It was historically used for spice trading and small commodity weights. It should not be confused with the heavier apothecary dram (3.888 g) or the liquid fluid dram (3.697 ml).
The dekagram is standard for food shopping in Austria, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. The avoirdupois dram is obsolete for most purposes, surviving only in a few American cooking references and ammunition powder specifications.

Non-Frequently Asked Questions About Dekagrams to Drams

Questions nobody should ask - but someone did.

A typical Apfelstrudel portion weighs about 20 Deka (200 grams) or roughly 113 drams. Ordering '113 drams of Apfelstrudel' in a Viennese Kaffeehaus would produce bewilderment, possibly followed by a polite suggestion to try the Sachertorte instead. Vienna and the dram do not belong in the same sentence.
Almost certainly not. The dram was an English/American unit; the dekagram is Central European. Their historical user bases did not overlap. An 18th-century Austrian merchant used local units (Loth, Pfund), not drams. Only modern conversion tables bring these two units together, like a meeting between strangers who have nothing in common.
An Austrian chef uses Deka without thinking. An American chef uses ounces. A French chef uses grams. Nobody uses drams for cooking in the 21st century. The dram's culinary career ended roughly when the British Empire did - and even before that, most cooks measured by sight and taste, not by dram.