Word of the Day - scantling

scantling

Pronunciation /ˈskantlɪŋ/
noun
1 A timber beam of small cross section.
1.1 The size to which a piece of timber or stone is measured and cut.
2 often scantlings A set of standard dimensions for parts of a structure, especially in shipbuilding.
3 archaic A specimen, sample, or small amount of something.

Origin
Early 16th century (denoting prescribed size, or a set of standard dimensions): alteration of obsolete scantillon (from Old French escantillon ‘sample’), by association with the suffix -ling.

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American lumber is nominally measured like "a two by four" (inches) of a certain length in feet, but those are rough cut measurements. The actual scantlings of a 2X4 is 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches because of surfacing to produce smooth surfaces.