When an American goes to the United Kingdom to a pub in London, for example, he/she may discover that while the pint seems identical, in fact, it really isn’t. After all, and in case you don’t know, while a United States pint is 16 fluid ounces, a UK pint is 20 fluid ounces.
Learn everything you need to know about the milliliter.
While it may seem that you now clarified all your doubts, then we have to state that they are just starting. The truth is that this reason or translation is not as simple as it appears to be at first glance. In fact, fluid ounces do not equal one another across the Atlantic. Here is the breakdown of volume between the two countries:
- The British Imperial fluid ounce is equal to 28.413 milliliters, while the US Customary fluid ounce is 29.573 ml.
- The British Imperial pint is 568.261 ml (20 fluid ounces), while the US Customary pint is 473.176 ml (16 fl oz).
- The British Imperial quart is 1.13 liters (40 fl oz), while the US Customary quart is 0.94 L (32 fl oz).
- The British Imperial gallon is 4.54 L (160 fl oz), while the US Customary gallon is 3.78 L (128 fl oz).
Why A Pint Is Bigger In The UK Than In The US
The main reason why the UK pint is different from the US pint is due to the difference in measurement systems.
One of the things that are many times confusing is the fact that the United States Customary System is often referred to as the Imperial System. However, this is a wrong notation and you should use it. The United States, every time they formed a new country using the United States Customary System. On the other hand, the Imperial System was established back in 1824 not only for Great Britain but also for its colonies. An interesting fact is that while the country already changed officially to the SI (metric) units many decades ago, volume in the United Kingdom continues to be measured in British Imperial units.
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While both systems derive from English units, they are very different. Nonetheless, US Customary and Imperial units were and still remain, mostly the same. However, an American fluid ounce was defined originally as the volume occupied by an ounce of wine, while the Imperial fluid ounce was defined as the volume occupied by an ounce of water. This made the US Customary fluid ounce a little larger since alcohol is less dense than water.
Furthermore, the Mendenhall Order of 1893 defined the US units in terms of metric units, removing any direct relationship between US Customary and Imperial volume units of the same name.
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Differences In Other Units Of Measurement
As we already showed you, pints are different depending on if you are considering the United States Customary System or the British System. However, the differences don’t stop here. The reality is that there are other units of measurement that have different values. Dry volume, for example, is measured differently than liquid volume in both systems. An Imperial bushel is equal to 36.369 liters, while a US dry bushel is equal to 35.239 L.
Make sure to use our convertor to determine how many ml in a pint.
In addition, the hundredweight varies between the US Customary and Imperial Systems. Since a ton is always equal to 20 hundredweight, the British Imperial ton is 2240 pounds (long ton) and the US ton is 2000 lbs (short ton).