Common measures and weights in England. Units of measurement in English: pounds, yards, pints and other miles per hour

Everyone knows that in America everything is different from other countries. And the point is not even that there are different laws and customs, but that there are completely different units of measurement. All these feet, inches, Fahrenheit and miles... How not to break your head in all this and figure out what's what?

So, we won’t scare you with “sea leagues” or “ long tons", but let's consider only those units of measurement that are used by Americans in everyday speech.

Miles, yards, feet and inches are used to measure length

Mile = mile = 1609 meters
In general there are many different types“miles,” but when an American simply says “mile,” he means an ordinary “statute mile.” It is in it that the distance from New York to Los Angeles is measured (directly, by the way, this is 2448 miles), it is written on the signs traffic and determines the speed of your car. By the way, the expression “to go the extra mile” will mean “do your best” and not “go another 1609 meters”. You can also say that the person is visible “from a mile away” or that you are “miles from nowhere”.

Yard = yard = 0.9144 meters
There are many options for the origin of the yard. Some believe that this is the length from the tip of the king's nose to the tip of the middle finger of an outstretched hand. There are also options that the yard came from the size of the waist or the length of the king’s sword. In any case, now a yard is a little less than a meter and equals 3 feet. By the way, the expression "whole nine yards" does not always mean that something takes up the whole nine yards. Typically this phrase means that something constitutes “ full set" or "full set". Example: “I bought the TV, the home theater system... The whole nine yards” - “I bought a TV, a home theater... The complete set.”

Foot = foot = 0.3048 meters
Feet are used as often as our meters. They also measure height. By the way, American licenses and identity cards always show a person’s height and weight. As you probably already guessed, the word “foot” itself traces its history to the word “foot.” Since everyone’s feet are different, in 1958 at a conference of English-speaking countries it was decided that now the standard “foot”, that is, “foot” is equal to 0.3048 meters. And one mile now contains “only” 5,280 feet. Isn’t it “logical”?

Inch = inch = 2.54 cm
It is believed that historically an inch was equal to the length thumb adult man. The caliber of a weapon is also measured in inches. There are 12 inches in one foot. This value is one of the smallest, which is actively used in everyday life. Maybe that's why our Russian expression“step by step” in English can sound “inch by inch”. Although the “step by step” option is also actively used.
There are very good expression“Give an inch and take a mile.” Usually it sounds something like this: “He is very greedy. Give him an inch and he will take a mile” (“He is very greedy. Give him an inch and he will take a mile”). Well, or if we translate this literally, then “If you give him a finger, he’ll grab your whole hand.”

Pounds (not to be confused with feet) and ounces are used to measure weight in everyday life in the United States.

Pound = pound = 0.45 kg
In the US, the pound is often shortened to lb. (from Latin libra - scales). Historically, this unit of mass measurement was actively used in Europe and the value was set by each feudal lord. Now the pound continues its life in the USA. One pound consists of 16 ounces.
Please note that in the USA pounds are used as a measure of weight, and in the UK the monetary unit is also called the pound. Be careful when translating proverbs. For example, in the saying “be penny-wise and pound-foolish” (“thrifty in small things and wasteful in large things”) we are talking about British pounds, and in the phrase “pounding head” (“heavy head”) we are already talking about the measure weight.

Ounce = ounce = 28.35 g
Ounce is shortened to oz. Since the weight of an ounce is very small, we use it when talking about the weight of jewelry. It is unlikely that anyone will measure the weight of potatoes in this unit.
There is a good expression - “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” If translated literally, we get something like “An ounce of protection weighs a pound of cure.” Well, in beautiful translation it will sound “The best tactic is prevention.”

These are the basic measures of length and weight that Americans and British use in everyday speech. Thanks to our proximity to Europe, the British may still have a good understanding of our meters and kilograms. The Americans do not understand anything about this and ask that everything be transferred to them in their “native” pounds and miles.

Shutikova Anna

IN English along with the metric system of measures are used own ways measurements of length, weight and volume. Mostly, English units of measurement are used in the domestic market, and some are gradually falling out of use. Until 1971, the shilling was used as a monetary unit, which was part of the pound sterling in the amount of 20 units. In turn, there were 12 pence in a shilling. It is easy to calculate that there were 240 pence in a pound. The two shilling coin was called a florin.

Using this monetary unit caused serious difficulties in international payments, so in 1971 the good old shilling went into oblivion, and the number of pence in a shilling was reduced to one hundred. Other units of measurement in English have been preserved, and many of them are still used today, and the American barrel is used when trading oil on the international market. These words need to be learned, since you will encounter them either in texts when studying English, or you will encounter them when communicating with native speakers.

English system measures were developed in “pre-metric” time, and any parts of the body, containers or available materials were used as a “standard”. For example,

• Inch was the average width of the thumb male hands
• Foot was equal medium length adult feet
• Stone was equal to weight stone of certain sizes
• Barrel (barrel, barrel) was the volume of a standard barrel.

In many countries and in Great Britain itself, various standards were invented, but after the revolution that metric system measures, all traditional measures began to be tied to it.

Length in English

Each English measure of length has its own history of origin and these units are interconnected:

• Point (0.3528mm)- a point approximately equal to the width of the point that we put on the letter
• Line(2.1mm)- line (6 points), which is close to the traditional 2 millimeters
• Inch (2.54cm)- inch. Approximately equal to half matchbox length.
• Foot(30.48cm)- ft. A little less than a third of a meter.
• Yard (0.9144m)- yard Doesn't reach a meter, about 8 centimeters.
• Furlong (201, 171m)- furlong. Close to 200 meters.
• Mile(1.6093 km)- “land” mile. Very close to 1600 meters.
• Naut mile(1.832km)- nautical mile. More than a simple mile by almost 231 meters.

How is volume measured?

This measure is necessary for measuring liquid or bulk products. Volume solid products usually measured in square inches, feet and yards. An interesting measure of volume is measured by stacks. This English unit of volume is equal to four cubic yards.

To measure granular and liquid substances, the following measures are used:

• Butt- slightly less than 500 l, namely 490.97 l
• Barrel- British barrel 163.65 is much larger than American 119.2 l (US)
• Barrel for oil trading in the UK it is 158.988 l, and in the USA it differs by only 0.018 l (158.97 l)
• Gallon- here the difference is much higher: 4.546 liters in the UK versus 3.784 liters in the USA
• Pint- a British pint is almost 100 ml larger than an American one (0.57 l versus 0.473 l)
• Fluid ounce- there is unanimity here (28.4 ml)
• A quart is equal to 1.136 liters
• Bushel has a volume of 36.37 liters

How is weight measured?

We list the weight measures in English and Russian:

• 1. Ounce (ounce) slightly less than 30 g (28.35 g)
• 2. Pound as an English unit of weight (pound) equal to 453.59 g, which is almost 47 g less than half a kilogram
• 3. Stone, used mostly in America is 6.35 kg
• 4. Short ton(short tone) is equal to 907.18 kg, and if you are interested, trace its history on the Internet
• 5. Long ton(long tone) very close to a metric ton and equal to 1016 kg

In fact, there are many more traditional English measures of measurement; we have touched only on the most popular ones.

Lim English also recommends that you pay attention to the English measure of counting - dozen (dozen). It was once used in Russia, but gradually fell out of use. Also interesting is the unit of time measurement fortnight (14 days).

On the site you will learn to distinguish between metric and traditional English and American units of measurement. You will also be able to compare their meaning. The most important thing is that when traveling abroad, the mention of a pint or a gallon will not take you by surprise!

Greetings, dear readers! Very often in films we hear about inches, yards, miles, acres. Almost every day the news says that a barrel of oil has risen in price by so many dollars. And if we imagine how much this is approximately in rubles, then we have no idea exactly how much oil in liters. Therefore, knowing the units of measurement in the USA, Canada and England is necessary not only for students of English, but will also be useful for general development each to represent what is being said in the news, literature or movies. English units measurements

English units and measures of length, weight, volume, area, mass and other indicators are very different from those in the Russian language. Many of them, as I already said, you could have heard from movies, TV shows or news, or read in English literature. But in the USA and England, as well as in Australia and Canada, there are units of measurement that are not known to Russian speakers at all. For example, bushel, mil, rod, pepper and many others.

Sometimes it’s very difficult to navigate new material or interesting information in English precisely because of ignorance of the meanings of some foreign measures. Therefore, in this article we will analyze in detail the units of measurement in English, find out their names, and approximately how much it will be if translated into familiar units of weight, length, speed, volume and distance.

The English measurement system is used not only in England and the USA, but also in other English speaking countries. UK like European country, long ago adopted the decimal and metric system of measures, but the press and ordinary people are in no hurry to accept new system, and use the old one. The most common measures of length, weight and volume in English are barrel, foot, pint, acre, yard, inch and mile.

• 1 fluid ounce (fl. oz.) = 28.43 ml (cm³)
• 1 oz = 28.6 g
• Short ton = 907 kg
• Long ton = 1016.05 kg
• Barrel = 163.6 l
• Barrel of oil = 158.98 l
• 1 lb = 453.5 g
• 1 acre = 0.4 ha
• 1 yard = 0.9144 m
• 1 inch = 2.54 cm
• 1 pint = 507 ml
• 1 grain = 64.8 mg

This is only a small part of the units of measurement in English. In fact, there are more than a hundred of them. You won't be able to learn them all, but it would be nice to get acquainted with the most popular ones. After all, in newspapers, on radio and television, we regularly encounter these incomprehensible words, symbols and designations in English or their tracing paper in Russian.

Table of the most common English measurements

To make it easier for you to navigate each unit of measure, I divided them into categories, found their approximate values ​​in our system, and placed them in a convenient table. This table can be downloaded and saved to your computer, or printed and hung in a visible place so that you can easily look into it if necessary.

So as not to miss new ones useful materials,

Study any foreign language impossible without research cultural characteristics of this country. To better understand the language itself, it is necessary to pay attention to the realities, traditions, and linguistic differences of a nation. In our case, we are talking about the English-speaking population (as usual, we take the UK and the USA). English (US) units of measurement (units of measurement) are precisely those features that it is desirable to understand in order to fully understand their written and oral speech.

You have probably come across English (American) units of measurement more than once. For example, I often came across them in English-language literature, news, TV shows, movies, etc. How to prepare an interesting dish according to an English or American recipe? All ingredients are also listed in ounces and pounds. Sometimes you read some book in English, get to it and stop, trying to understand how tall he is. After all, it is measured in feet and inches, which is unusual for us, because many do not know the meaning of these quantities. We have a metric system, give us meters and centimeters. Or you listen to world news in English: again discussing the price of oil. And one barrel costs so much and so much. How much is in this barrel? For us, liters are more familiar. And they measure liquids in gallons, and weigh everything in pounds and ounces.

If you have already encountered similar situations, then, obviously, they looked at the table of English (American) units of measurement in order to approximately estimate what quantities we're talking about. If you haven't tried this yet, let's figure it out.

English (American) linear measures

According to the English system of units of measurement ( British Imperial System of measurement), which is used in Great Britain, the United States of America and other countries, by basic linear measures ( linear measure) are the following values:

1. Inch ( inch) = 25.4 mm (2.54 cm)
2. Foot ( foot) = 0.3048 m (or 12 inches)
3. Yard ( yard) = 0.9144 m (or 3 feet)
4. Mile ( mile) = 1,609 km (or 1,760 yards)
5. Hand ( hand) = 10.16 cm (or 4 inches)

Please note that the value nautical miles (nautical mile) somewhat different – ​​1.8532 (England) and 1.852 (USA). If you need to convert to feet as quickly as possible, divide the number in feet by three. And if you want to quickly transform the length in miles into kilometers, multiply the number by 1.5 (or divide the number of miles by 5 and multiply by 8). Get an approximate result in each case. By the way, a yard is almost a meter (91.44 cm), so you can safely round it up.

The common narwhal or sea unicorn often achieves a length of sixty feet. – The common narwhal whale often reaches 60 feet (20 meters) in length.

She wears classic 5 inch high heels. – She wears dress shoes with 5-inch heels (12-13 cm).

English (American) measures of area

Under area units ( square measure) we understand any meanings in the “square”, namely:

1. Square inch ( square inch) = 6.45 cm²
2. Square foot ( square foot) = 929 cm²
3. Square yard ( square yard) = 0.836 m²
4. Square mile ( square mile) = 2.59 km²
5. Acre ( acre) = 0.405 ha = 4046.86 m²

The new meaning is "acre". For quick translation acres to hectares must be multiplied by 0.4. Even faster - divide by two. The approximate area in hectares will be known. It's easier with square feet - divide the number by 10, and you have a value in meters.

We bought an old house on five acres. – We bought a new house on five acres of land (2 hectares).

How many square yards are there in a square meter? – How many square yards are in a square meter?

English (American) weight measures

In what units are the British or Americans used to measuring the weight of some substance ( weight measure), product, etc.?

1. Ounce ( ounce, oz) = 28.35 g
2. Pound ( pound) = 453.59 g (or 16 ounces)
3. Stone ( stone) = 6.35 kg (or 14 lbs) – used primarily in the USA
4. Short ton ( short tone) = 907.18 kg
5. Long ton ( long tone) = 1016 kg

You've probably already noticed that the basic unit of measurement, the pound, is almost half a kilogram. Therefore, converting the number you need into pounds and back is not difficult. To indicate your weight in pounds, for example, simply double it.

Baby Brianna weighed 13 ounces at birth. – Little Brianna weighed 13 ounces (370 g) at birth.

How to lose 20 pounds forever in exercise and diet? – How to lose 20 pounds (9 kg) permanently through exercise and diet?

English (American) volume measures

Among the main English (American) units of volume measurements ( cubic measure) should be called:

1. Cubic inch = 16.39 cm³
2. Cubic foot = 0.028 m³
3. Cubic yard = 0.76 m³

How many cubic yards does this dump truck hold? – How many cubic yards does this dump truck hold?

The USA has more than 2200 trillion cubic feet of gas waiting to be pumped, enough to satisfy nearly 100 years of current US natural-gas demand. – The United States has more than 22 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, which is enough to supply the United States for the next hundred years at current consumption levels.

English (American) measures of liquids and solids

What do they measure? liquid substances (liquid measure)?

1. Butt ( butt) = 490.97 l
2. Barrel ( barrel) = 163.65 l ( G.B.)/119.2 l ( US)
3. Barrel (oil) = 158.988 l ( G.B.)/158.97 l ( US)
4. Gallon ( gallon) = 4.546 l ( G.B.)/3.784 l ( US)
5. Pint ( pint) = 0.57 l ( G.B.)/0.473 l ( US)
6. Fluid ounce ( fluid ounce) = 28.4 ml

How many ounces of water should I drink every day? – How many ounces of water should I drink per day?

How many gallons of gasoline are consumed in the USA? – How many gallons of fuel does the US population consume?

A few facts about the British Imperial and American systems of weights and measures

Many people have heard that there are British Imperial and American systems of weights and measures. Do you know how they differ? These two systems are closely related, they both originated from the English system, which, in turn, is based on the system of measures Ancient Rome. The American and British systems of measures are so close that they are often confused. And it is not surprising, given that often in these systems the names of the units are the same, although their meanings may differ.

History of units of measurement

The units of measurement that are used today in the USA and partly in Great Britain became widespread during the Norman conquests. The yard is the only unit that has remained virtually unchanged since those times. The yard replaced the previously used elbow (ell). Chain is another measure that came from old Anglia, which has hardly changed. On the other hand, the foot that is in use today has changed from the original foot. Today there are 16.5 feet in a rod unit, but originally there were exactly 15. Furlong and acre have not changed much in the last thousand years. They were originally a measure of land value, but later became simply units of area.

Confusion with British pounds

Differences between the British and American systems

Probably the most unusual units are volume units. A US liquid gallon is 0.83 imperial gallons and a US dry gallon is 0.97 imperial gallons. In the UK, there is a single gallon for liquid and bulk substances.

US independence

After the US Declaration of Independence, America seceded and developed its own system of weights and measures. That is why today the meanings of American and British gallons, pounds, and yards differ. Ultimately, the two governments decided to work together and introduce precise definitions yard and foot, based on copies of official standards that the British Parliament adopted in 1850. True, I had to admit that these “official” standards were not of very high quality and cannot provide the accuracy necessary in modern world. Therefore, in 1960, two governments officially redefined the pound and yard based on the standards used in the metric system. And although the changes in 1960 were very small in magnitude, their consequence was the emergence of two parallel standards for measures of length in the United States - survey measures (the old standard) and international measures (the new one, tied to metric units).

The differences between US and UK units are often the subject of discussion and jokes among tourists. For example, in England, beer is sold in pints, with the British pint being larger than the American pint. This gives rise to endless jokes about Americans who are unable to calculate their dose of drink and the British who always have too much high prices per gallon of gasoline.

What other differences are there in units?

Before 1960, the British yard and pound were not significantly different from their American counterparts, at least for everyday use - the measurements are not very long distances or sales, for example, of products. But there were some differences even in this common usage. For example, in the USA short distances It is customary to denote it in feet, and in England - in yards.

It’s hard to believe, but there are still people alive who grew up among a different measurement system and other units. The old imperial system had a unit of stone equal to 14 pounds. Eight stone made a hundredweight (hundredweight), and a ton was equal to 20 hundredweight or 2240 pounds. IN American system there are no stones, and the cwt in it is equal to 100 pounds. Accordingly, a ton is equal to 2000 pounds. The round number 2000 is easier to remember than 2240, but having two different versions of tons and quintals leads to confusion, especially in international trade. So that people in different countries It was easier to understand the difference when talking about a ton, often the British ton is called long ton, and the American ton is short ton. But there is also a metric ton!

If you think that modern system too confusing, think about those who lived in the 19th century. Thomas Jefferson in his "Plan to Establish common standards coins, weights and measures" noted that in the USA alone there were 14 different definitions gallon. The smallest gallon contained 224 cubic inches, and the largest contained 282 cubic inches. The difference is more than a quarter! Ultimately, the Queen Anne gallon was chosen as the official one.

For relief international trade For oil, a single unit of measurement was chosen - the barrel. One barrel is 159 liters or 42 US gallons. Precious metals are traded in troy ounces, one troy ounce is equal to 31.10 grams.

Ultimately, it is likely that the whole world will come to a single measurement system. Most likely it will be the metric system. But for now we still live in a world where a wild mixture of systems and units coexists, including units that have the same name, but with different meanings. Isn't it true that our world is a little crazy?