A unit is a standardized reference magnitude against which quantities are compared: the fixed point that turns raw comparison into measurement. Its parameters are (1) the quantity kind it standardizes (length, mass, duration), (2) the reference that defines it (an artifact, a procedure, or a physical constant), and (3) the authority that maintains the definition (a standards body, a treaty, a custom). Its persistence mechanism is institutional custody of the reference — and that mechanism can itself be replaced without the unit dying: the kilogram persisted as a platinum-iridium cylinder in a Paris vault from 1889 until 2019, then was redefined onto the Planck constant because the artifact was drifting. A corporatum that swapped its own persistence mechanism to survive better. Distinct from measurement (the practice of comparing): the practice created the standard historically, and now, as defined, runs on it.
[formal: unitas mensurae | substrate: mind | horizon: centuries | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.10]