Convert decagrams (dag, dkg or 'deka') to grams and back, for Central European recipes and deli-counter orders.
1 dag = 10 g
"Deca" is the metric prefix for ten, so a decagram is ten grams. Multiply decagrams by 10 to get grams (25 dag = 250 g), and divide grams by 10 to get decagrams (120 g = 12 dag). The official symbol is dag. Deca is the only metric prefix whose symbol has two letters.
Most of the world skips the decagram, but it's an everyday unit across Central Europe. Shoppers order cold cuts and cheese by the "deka", and older family recipes list ingredients in decagrams. Many countries write it as dkg, which isn't the official symbol but means the same thing.
| Country | Written | At the counter |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | dag | "10 Deka Schinken" |
| Poland | dag | "10 deko szynki" |
| Czechia, Slovakia | dkg | "10 deka šunky" |
| Hungary | dkg | "10 deka sonka" |
| Croatia, Slovenia | dag, dkg | "10 deka šunke" |
"10 deka" is 100 g, a common deli order. 20 deka is 200 g, about 7 oz.
A handwritten Austrian cake recipe lists its ingredients in dag. Your scale shows grams.
Multiply each amount by 10
| Ingredient | Recipe (dag) | Grams | Ounces |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flour | 25 dag | 250 g | 8.8 oz |
| Butter | 12 dag | 120 g | 4.2 oz |
| Sugar | 10 dag | 100 g | 3.5 oz |
| Ground walnuts | 8 dag | 80 g | 2.8 oz |
Weigh out 250 g flour, 120 g butter, 100 g sugar and 80 g walnuts. Only the unit changes: the proportions stay exactly as written.
The two names differ by one letter but the units differ by a factor of 100. A decagram (dag, deca = ten) is 10 g. A decigram (dg, deci = one tenth) is 0.1 g. Misreading 5 dg as 5 dag turns half a gram into 50 grams. Watch for this with supplements, spices and lab measurements, where decigrams are more likely.
Each step is ten times the one before. The kilogram, not the gram, is the SI base unit of mass.
| Unit | Symbol | In grams | In decagrams |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milligram | mg | 0.001 | 0.0001 |
| Centigram | cg | 0.01 | 0.001 |
| Decigram | dg | 0.1 | 0.01 |
| Gram | g | 1 | 0.1 |
| Decagram | dag | 10 | 1 |
| Hectogram | hg | 100 | 10 |
| Kilogram | kg | 1,000 | 100 |
| Decagrams | Grams | Ounces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 dag | 10 g | 0.35 |
| 2 dag | 20 g | 0.71 |
| 5 dag | 50 g | 1.76 |
| 10 dag | 100 g | 3.53 |
| 12 dag | 120 g | 4.23 |
| 15 dag | 150 g | 5.29 |
| 20 dag | 200 g | 7.05 |
| 25 dag | 250 g | 8.82 |
| 30 dag | 300 g | 10.58 |
| 50 dag | 500 g | 17.64 |
| 100 dag | 1000 g | 35.27 |
Yes. Both mean decagram (10 g). dag is the official SI symbol, and dkg is the traditional form still common in Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia.
100. A kilogram is 1,000 g, and each decagram is 10 g.
It's the spoken short form of decagram. "Ein Deka" is 10 g, so "15 Deka Käse" is 150 g of cheese.
Both spellings are used. "Decagram" is the international (and UK) spelling. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology uses "dekagram".
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