Number & MeasureGreek → English
Litre
/ˈliːtər/noun
The metric unit of volume, equal to a thousand cubic centimetres.
The Greek roots
λίτρα
lítra
a pound weight
Literally: “a pound weight”
Follow a root:λίτρα2 words
The story of the word
The revolutionary committee that built the metric system in 1795 did not invent the name. They took litron, an old French dry measure, and clipped it; litron traces back through Medieval Latin to λίτρα, a unit of weight and a silver coin used by the Greeks of Sicily. λίτρα and Latin libra are usually explained as two borrowings of one older Mediterranean word rather than as relatives.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Medieval Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- 18th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
millilitredecilitrehectolitre
In a sentence
Two litres of stock, reduced by half, is the whole trick.