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Metric Household

NIST SP 430, Household Weights and Measures, provides the approximate equivalents of common capacity (volume) measurement units used for home cooking applications. In the metric system, both fluid and dry commodities are measured in volume units, such as the cubic decimeter (dm3), liter (L), or milliliter (mL).

Table 1. EQUIVALENTS OF THE COMMON CAPACITY UNITS USED IN THE KITCHEN

Units

Fluid
drams
Tea-
spoon-
fuls
Table-
spoon-
fuls
Fluid
ounces
¼
cup-
fuls
Gills
(½ cup-
fuls)
Cup-
fuls
Liquid
pints
Liquid
quarts
Milli-
liters*
Liters Units
1 fluid dram equals 1 3/4 1/4 1/8 1/16 1/32 1/64 1/128 1/256 3.7 0.004 Equals 1 fluid dram
1 tea-
spoon-
ful equals
1 1/3 1 1/3 1/6 1/12 1/24 1/48 1/96 1/192 4.9 0.005 Equals 1 tea-spoonful
1 table-
spoon-
ful equals
4 3 1 1/2 1/4 1/8 1/16 1/32 1/64 15 0.015 Equals 1 table-spoonful
1 fluid ounce equals 8 6 2 1 1/2 1/4 1/8 1/16 1/32 30 0.030 Equals 1 fluid once
1/4 cupful equals 16 12 4 2 1 1/2 1/4 1/8 1/16 59 0.059 Equals 1/4 cupful
1 gill (1/2 cupful) equals 32 24 8 4 2 1 1/2 1/4 1/8 118 0.118 Equals 1 gill (1/2 cupful)
1 cupful equals 64 48 16 8 4 2 1 1/2 1/4 237 0.237 Equals 1 cupful
1 liquid pint equals 128 96 32 16 8 4 2 1 1/2 473 0.473 Equals 1 liquid pint
1 liquid quart equals 256 192 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 946 0.946 Equals 1 liquid quart
1 milliliter* equals 0.27 0.20 0.068 0.034 0.017 0.0084 0.0042 0.0021 0.0011 1 1/1000 Equals 1 milliliter*
1 liter equals 270 203 67.6 33.8


 
16.9 8.45 4.23 2.11 1.06 1000 1 Equals 1 liter
*For all household purposes 1 milliliter may be considered as equal to 1 cubic centimeter.
NOTE: Values in italics are correct to the number of significant figures shown; all others are exact values.

Contacts

Created September 6, 2011, Updated March 23, 2021