Number & MeasureGreek → English
Liter
/ˈliːtər/noun
The metric unit of volume equal to one cubic decimetre.
The Greek roots
λίτρα
lítra
Sicilian unit of weight
Literally: “a weight measure”
Follow a root:λίτρα2 words
The story of the word
Lítra was a unit of weight and a silver coin among the Greeks of Sicily, and the same Mediterranean measure lies behind Latin libra, the pound still abbreviated lb. The Greek word survived in French as litron, an old measure for grain, which is where the framers of the metric system found it when the law of 1795 named the new unit of volume. A carton of milk therefore carries a Sicilian coin weight on the side.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → French → English
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
milliliterlitredecilitre
In a sentence
The engine is a two liter turbo.
Drink a liter of water before you go out in that heat.