A “long hundred” is an old counting term that means 120 , not 100.

Basic meaning

  • A long hundred = 120 items, i.e. 12 × 10.
  • It is sometimes also called the great hundred or twelfty.
  • Today, when people say “hundred” they almost always mean 100 (sometimes called a short hundred).

Historical background

  • In several early Germanic languages, the word that corresponded to “hundred” actually referred to 120.
  • This older “long hundred” usage persisted in parts of medieval Northern Europe, especially in trade and taxation records.

Where it was used

  • Medieval England used long hundreds in some units, for example in counting certain goods like fish or cloth, alongside ordinary hundreds.
  • Similar practices appeared in Scotland and other Germanic-speaking regions, though over time the short hundred (100) became standard.

Related old terms

  • A “long thousand” was sometimes used to mean 10 long hundreds, i.e. 1,200.
  • The more familiar word “score” means 20, so 120 can also be described as “six score.”

TL;DR: A long hundred is an old-fashioned way of counting that equals 120 instead of 100.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.