Pint
The pint is a unit of volume or capacity in both the imperial and United States customary measurement systems. In both of those systems it is traditionally one eighth of a gallon. The British imperial pint is about larger than the American pint because the two systems are defined differently. Almost all other countries have standardized on the metric system, so the size of what may be called a pint varies depending on local custom.
The imperial pint is used in the United Kingdom and Ireland and to a limited extent in Commonwealth nations. In the United States, two kinds of pint are used: a liquid pint and a less-common dry pint. Each of these pints is one eighth of its respective gallon, but the gallons differ. This difference dates back to 1824, when the British Weights and Measures Act standardized various liquid measures throughout the British Empire, while the United States continued to use the earlier English measure. 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. All of the other former British colonies, such as Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, converted to the metric system in the 1960s and 1970s; so, while the term may still be in common use in these countries, it may no longer refer to the British imperial pint once used throughout the British Empire.
In the United Kingdom, the imperial pint is the mandatory base unit for draught beer and cider. Milk sold in returnable containers may be sold by the pint alone and other goods may be sold by the pint if the equivalent metric measure is also given.
Since the majority of countries in the world no longer use American or British imperial units, and most are non-English speaking, a "pint of beer" served in a tavern outside the United Kingdom and the United States may be measured by other standards. In Commonwealth countries it may be a British imperial pint of 568 ml, in countries serving large numbers of American tourists it might be a US liquid pint of 473 ml, in many metric countries it is a half-litre of 500 ml, or in some places it is another measure reflecting national and local laws and customs.
Historically, units called a pint were used across much of Europe, with values varying between countries from less than half a litre to over one litre. Within continental Europe, these pints were replaced with liquid measures based on the metric system during the 19th century. The term is still in limited use in parts of France, where "une pinte" means an imperial quart, which is 2 imperial pints, whereas a pint is "une chopine"—and Central Europe, notably some areas of Germany and Switzerland, where "ein Schoppen" is colloquially used for roughly half a litre. In Spanish holiday resorts frequented by British tourists, 'pint' is often taken to mean a beer glass. Half-pint and pint mugs may therefore be referred to as pinta pequeña and pinta grande.
Name
Pint comes from the Old French word pinte and perhaps ultimately from Vulgar Latin pincta meaning "painted", for marks painted on the side of a container to show capacity. It is linguistically related, though greatly diverging in meaning, to Pinto – an Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese name for a person with a speckled or dark complexion, often used as a surname in these languages.Definitions
Imperial pint
US liquid pint
In the United States, the liquid pint is legally defined as one eighth of a liquid gallon of precisely 231 cubic inches.US dry pint
In the United States, the dry pint is one eighth of a dry gallon.Other pints
| Type | Definition | Equals | Comment |
| Flemish pintje | 250 ml | ||
| Israel | 360–440 ml | Varies, no fixed definition. | |
| India | 330 ml | 330 ml | 'Pint bottle' capacity. |
| South Australian pint | 425 ml | 425 ml | |
| US liquid pint | 16 US fl oz | ≈ 473 ml | Used in the United States. |
| US dry pint | 18.6 US fl oz | ≈ 551 ml | Less common. |
| Imperial pint | 20 imp fl oz | ≈ 568 ml | Used in UK and Ireland. |
| Australian pint | 570 ml | 570 ml | Based on the imperial pint rounded to a metric value. |
| Royal pint or pinte du roi | 48 French cubic inches | ≈ 952 ml | Varied by region from 0.95 to over 2 litres. |
| Canadian pinte de bière | Imperial quart | ≈ 1136 ml | |
| Scottish pint or joug | 2 pints and 19.69 imp fl oz | ≈ 1696 ml |
The United States dry pint is equal to one eighth of a United States dry gallon. It is used in the United States, but is not as common as the liquid pint.
A now-obsolete unit of measurement in Scotland, known as the Scottish pint, or joug, is equal to 1696 ml. It remained in use until the 19th century, surviving significantly longer than most of the old Scottish measurements.
The word pint is one of numerous false friends which exist between English and French. They are not the same unit although they have the same linguistic origin. The French word pinte is etymologically related, but historically described a larger unit. The Royal pint was 48 French cubic inches, but regional pints varied in size depending on locality and on commodity varying from 0.95 L to over 2 L.
In Canada, the Weights and Measures Act, which has the laws in English and French printed side-by-side, defines a pint in English as 1/8 of a gallon, but defines a pinte in French as 1/4 of a gallon. Thus, if you speak English and order "a pint of beer", servers are legally required to serve you 568 ml of beer, but if you speak French and order "une pinte de bière", they are legally required to serve an imperial quart, which is 1136 ml, or twice as much. To order an imperial pint when speaking French in Canada, one must instead order une chopine de bière.
In Flanders, the word pintje, meaning 'little pint', refers only to a 250 ml glass of lager. Some West- and East-Flemish dialects use it as a word for beaker. The equivalent word in German, Pintchen, refers to a glass of a third of a litre in Cologne and the Rhineland.
In South Australia, ordering "a pint of beer" results in 425 ml being served. Customers must specifically request "an Imperial pint of beer" to get 570 ml. Australians from other states often contest the size of their beers in Adelaide.
Equivalence
As one US fluid pint of water weighs about a pound, this gives rise to a popular saying: "A pint's a pound, the world around". However, a US pint of water actually weighs 1.04318 pounds, and the statement does not hold around the world.This is because the Imperial pint, which was also the standard measure in Australia, India, Malaya, New Zealand, South Africa, and other former British colonies weighs 1.2528 pounds, which is very close to a popular saying for the imperial pint: "a pint of pure water weighs a pound and a quarter".
History
The pint is traditionally one eighth of a gallon. In the Latin of the apothecaries' system, the symbol O was used for the pint. Because of the variety of definitions of a gallon, there have been equally many versions of the pint.America adopted the British wine gallon, defined in 1707 as 231 cubic inches exactly as its basic liquid measure, from which the US wet pint is derived; and the British corn gallon as its dry measure, from which the US dry pint is derived.
In 1824, the British parliament replaced all the various gallons with a new imperial gallon based on ten pounds of distilled water at , from which the current UK pint is derived.
The various Canadian provinces continued to use the Queen Anne Winchester wine gallon as a basis for their pint until 1873, well after Britain adopted the imperial system in 1824. This made the Canadian pint compatible with the American pint, but after 1824 it was incompatible with the British pint. The traditional French "pinte" used in Lower Canada was twice the size of the traditional English "pint" used in Upper Canada, about 1 litre versus 0.5 litres. After four of the British provinces united in the Canadian Confederation in 1867, Canada legally adopted the British imperial system of measure in 1873, making Canadian liquid units incompatible with American ones from that year forward. In 1873, the French Canadian "pinte" was defined as being one imperial quart or two imperial pints, while the imperial pint was legally called a "chopine" in French Canada. Canadian imperial units of liquid measure remain incompatible with American traditional units to this day, and although the Canadian pint, quart, and gallon are still legal units of measure in Canada, they are still 20% larger than the American ones.
Effects of metrication
In the British and Irish metrication processes, the pint was replaced by metric units as the legally defined primary unit of measure for trading by volume or capacity, except for the sale of draught beer and cider, and milk in returnable containers. The pint can still be used in those countries as a supplementary unit in all circumstances. Legislation in the UK mandates the use of the pint as a measure for draught beer and cider. UK legislation mandates that draught beer and cider may be sold by the imperial pint, and in public houses can only be sold in a third of a pint, two thirds of a pint or multiples of half a pint, which must be served in stamped, measured glasses or from government-stamped meters. For milk, if returnable containers are used, the pint can still be the principal unit used, otherwise metric units must be used. There is no requirement for the litre quantity to be round numbers: thus the quantity of milk sold in a non-returnable container may be 1 pint, but will have "568 ml 1 pint", or just "568 ml", on the label. Many recipes published in the UK and Ireland still give ingredient quantities in imperial, where the pint is often used as a unit for larger liquid quantities. The Guild of Food Writers recommends that new recipes be published in metric units.The British Virgin Islands also requires that beer and cider be sold in pints. Also, in Canada, water amounts in air purifiers are advertised in pints as well as BTUs ; see metrication.
In Australia and New Zealand, a subtle change was made to 1-pint milk bottles during the conversion from imperial to metric in the 1970s. The height and diameter of the milk bottle remained unchanged, so that existing equipment for handling and storing the bottles was unaffected, but the shape was adjusted to increase the capacity from 568 ml to 600 ml—a conveniently rounded metric measure. Such milk bottles are no longer officially referred to as pints. However, the "pint glass" in pubs in Australia remains closer to the standard imperial pint, at 570 ml. It holds about 500 ml of beer and about 70 ml of froth, except in South Australia, where a pint is served in a 425 ml glass and a 570 ml glass is called an "imperial pint". In New Zealand, there is no longer any legal requirement for beer to be served in standard measures: in pubs, the largest size of glass, which is referred to as a pint, varies, but usually contains 425 ml.
In Canada, the "pint of beer" served in pubs and bars has long been considered a colloquial term for "a large glass of beer". Legally speaking, after 1873, it was defined as one British imperial pint of 20 imperial ounces. On the other hand, the United States continued to use a smaller 16-imperial-ounce pint, while in French Canada after 1873 a "pinte de bière" was defined as a much larger 40-ounce quart of beer, so confusion arose to which was being used. Some provinces banned the sale of beer in the larger bottle. For example, in Ontario in the 1950s only the smaller size could be sold, but in Quebec both sizes were about equally common. The numerous incompatibilities between traditional Canadian, British, French, and American unit systems was one of the driving forces behind metrication in Canada.
Draft beer in Canada, when advertised as a "pint", is legally required to be 568 ml. With the allowed margin of error of 0.5 fluid ounces, a "pint" that is less than 554 ml of beer is an offence, though—to the detriment of consumers—this regulation is often violated and rarely enforced.
After metrication in Canada, companies sold milk and other liquids in metric units so conversion issues could no longer arise. Legally speaking, although some British imperial units are still legally usable in Canada, as a result of Canada's colonial history, the "pint" served in drinking establishments in Canada should be the larger 20-ounce British imperial pint, rather than the smaller 16-ounce American traditional pint. Under the Canada Weights and Measures Act, if asked for a "pint of beer", businesses should serve customers 0.568 litres of beer with an accuracy of 0.5%, and if asked for a "pinte de bière" they should serve them 1.136 litres. The imperial system of measurement is no longer taught in Canadian schools, which leads to confusion when customers ask how big a drinking establishment's pints are. Servers and even managers may not know. To avoid legal issues, many drinking establishments are moving away from using the term "pint" and are selling "glasses" or "sleeves" of beer, neither of which have a legal definition.
A 375 ml bottle of liquor in the US and the Canadian maritime provinces is sometimes referred to as a "pint" and a 200 ml bottle is called a "half-pint", harking back to the days when liquor came in US pints, fifths, quarts, and half-gallons. Liquor in the US has been sold in metric-sized bottles since 1980 although beer is still sold in US traditional units.
In France, a standard 250 ml measure of beer is known as un demi, originally meaning a half-pint.