An American walks into a pub in London and orders a pint. It looks similar, but, given the amount of the golden-brown, oddly warm liquid sloshing around in the glass vessel, it almost seems to be a little too much.
A pint glass is a form of drinkware made to hold either a British imperial pint of 20 imperial fluid ounces (568 ml) or an American pint of 16 US fluid ounces (473 ml).
How Big Is a Pint?
This is because a pint in the United Kingdom is bigger than a pint in the United States. The UK pint is 20 fluid ounces, while the US pint fills up 16 fl oz. However, this translation is not that simple, as 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).
Background of English Units
At the root of this divide is the difference in measurement systems. While the American system of measurement often is referred to as the Imperial System, this usage is erroneous. The US, ever since the formative years of the New World-nation, has used the US Customary System. The Imperial System, alternatively, was established in 1824 for Great Britain and its colonies. Even today, decades after officially switching to SI (metric) units, volume in the UK is measured in British Imperial units.
Both these systems, however, derived from English units. English units were in use until the early 1800s, and they saw a vast range of influences due to the frenzied history of the British Isles. This historical precedence spanned a millennium, so, to keep things short: the Celtic Britons lived in modern-day Britain, and they were at war with Roman invaders for the first few centuries AD. After the Romans left, the Celts were invaded and displaced by the Anglo-Saxons, who were dominated by the Normans.
This resulted in a plethora of units of measurement. Many Anglo-Saxon units had some basis in the people’s agricultural past. For example, 3 barleycorns equaled 1 ynce (inch), and an acre was considered a field the size a farmer could plow in a single day. The foot, obviously having a connection to the length of the human appendage, was in use, but it had various conflicting specifications.
The Norman kings brought Roman measurements to Britain, specifically the 12-inch foot and the mile, which was defined originally as the length of 1000 paces of a Roman legion. If you’d like to read more about this background, please refer to our article on the History of the US Customary System.
Is a British pint 20 oz?
FAQ
Is 20oz 1 pint?
How many oz makes a pint?
Why is a British pint 20 oz?
Is 16 oz equal to 1 pint?
How many Oz are in a pint?
The imperial pint consists of 20 imperial fluid ounces and the US liquid pint is 16 US fluid ounces. The imperial fluid ounce is about 4% smaller than the US fluid ounce. Is 12 oz the same as 1 pint? A dry pint is not a measurement of weight—it provides a measure of volume, as in cubic inches.
What is 20 fluid ounces in pints?
To calculate 20 Fluid Ounces to the corresponding value in Pints, multiply the quantity in Fluid Ounces by 0.0625 (conversion factor). In this case we should multiply 20 Fluid Ounces by 0.0625 to get the equivalent result in Pints: 20 Fluid Ounces x 0.0625 = 1.25 Pints 20 Fluid Ounces is equivalent to 1.25 Pints.
How many pints in a fluid ounce?
Fluid ounce is an imperial and United States Customary measurement system volume unit. 1 US Fluid Ounce = 0.0625 US Fluid Pint. 1 Imperial Fluid Ounce = 0.05 Imperial Pint. The symbol is ” fl oz “. What is a Pint?
How many pints are in a US pint?
A US pint is a unit of volume in US Customary Units. The symbol for US pint is US pt. There are 0.0625 US pints in a US fluid ounce. What is a US fluid ounce (US fl oz)? A US fluid ounce is a unit of volume in US Customary Units. The symbol for US fluid ounce is US fl oz. There are 16 US fluid ounces in a US pint.