The quart (symbol: qt) is a

unit of volume A unit of volume is a unit of measurement for measuring volume or capacity, the extent of an object or space in three dimension (mathematics), dimensions. Units of capacity may be used to specify the volume of fluids or bulk goods, for example wat ...

equal to a quarter of a

gallon The gallon is a unit of volume in British imperial units and United States customary units. The imperial gallon (imp gal) is defined as , and is or was used in the United Kingdom and its former colonies, including Ireland, Canada, Australia ...

. Three kinds of quarts are currently used: the liquid quart and dry quart of the

US customary system United States customary units form a system of measurement units commonly used in the United States and most U.S. territories since being standardized and adopted in 1832. The United States customary system developed from English units that ...

and the of the British imperial system. All are roughly equal to one

liter The litre ( Commonwealth spelling) or liter ( American spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metres (m3). A cu ...

. It is divided into two

pint The pint (, ; symbol pt, sometimes abbreviated as ''p'') is a unit of volume or capacity in both the imperial and United States customary measurement systems. In both of those systems, it is one-eighth of a gallon. The British imperial pint ...

s or (in the US) four

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

s. Historically, the size of a quart has varied with the different values of gallons over time, and in the case of the dry quart, in reference to different commodities.

Name

The term comes from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

(meaning one-quarter) via the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

. However, although the French word has the same root, it frequently means something entirely different. In

Canadian French Canadian French (, ) is the French language as it is spoken in Canada. It includes multiple varieties, the most prominent of which is Québécois (Quebec French). Formerly ''Canadian French'' referred solely to Quebec French and the closely re ...

in particular, the quart is called , while the

is called .

History

Since gallons of various sizes have historically been in use, the corresponding quarts have also existed with various sizes.

Definitions and equivalencies

Imperial quart

The imperial quart is equal to one-quarter of an imperial gallon of exactly , i.e. . In the United Kingdom, goods may be sold by the quart if the equivalent metric measure is also given. In

, by federal law, the imperial quart is called .

US liquid quart

In the United States, traditional length and volume measures have been legally standardized for commerce by the

international yard and pound The international yard and pound are two units of measurement that were the subject of an agreement among representatives of six nations signed on 1 July 1959: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States ...

agreement of 1959, using the definition of 1 yard being 0.9144

meters The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

: from this definition the metric equivalents for inches, feet, miles, area measures, and measures of volume are determined. The US liquid quart is equal to one-quarter of a gallon of exactly 231 cubic inches, i.e. 57.75 cubic inches or ."Authorized tables"
,

United States Code The United States Code (formally The Code of Laws of the United States of America) is the official Codification (law), codification of the general and permanent Law of the United States#Federal law, federal statutes of the United States. It ...

, Title 15, ch. 6, subchapter I, sec. 205, accessed 19 July 2008.

US dry quart

In the United States, the dry quart is equal to of a US bushel of exactly 2150.42 cubic inches, i.e. 67.200625 cubic inches or .

Winchester quart

The Winchester quart is an obsolescent measure: it was originally equal to two imperial quarts (half of an imperial gallon) or exactly , but was later metricated to (2.2 imperial quarts). Despite its name, it is unrelated to the

Winchester measure Winchester measure is a set of legal standards of volume instituted in the late 15th century (1495) by King Henry VII of England and in use, with some modifications, until the present day. It consists of the Winchester bushel and its depende ...

. The 2.5L bottles in which laboratory chemicals are supplied are sometimes referred to as Winchester quart bottles, although these contain 10% more than a traditional Winchester quart.

Reputed quart

The reputed quart was a measure equal to two-thirds of an imperial quart (one-sixth of an imperial gallon), or exactly 0.757681 liters, which is only 0.08% larger than one US fifth (exactly 0.7570823568 liters). The reputed quart was previously recognized as a standard size of wine bottle in the United Kingdom, and is only about 1% larger than the current standard wine bottle of 0.75L.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{United States Customary Units Alcohol measurement Cooking weights and measures Customary units of measurement in the United States Imperial units Units of volume