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U.S. customary units
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U.S. customary units

The U.S. customary units (more commonly known in the US as English units or standard units) are the non-metric units of measurement that are presently used in the United States, in some cases alongside the metric system of units. This system of units is similar to the Imperial system (sometimes called the British system) once used in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, but has some differences. Both systems derive from the units which developed over the centuries in England. Today U.S. customary units are defined in terms of SI units.

The official policy of the United States government is to designate the metric system of measurement as the preferred system of weights and measures for U.S. trade and commerce. This process is known as metrication, and is evident in labeling requirements on food products, for example. However, for various reasons, customary units are still widely used on consumer products and in industrial manufacturing; only in specific scientific contexts are metric units always preferred. Since everyday weights and measures are mostly non-metric, children in US public schools are generally taught customary units before metric, although many schools are now attempting to teach metric units at an earlier age.

In the United Kingdom and in most Commonwealth countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, where metrication has been more forcefully imposed and has encountered less resistance from industry and consumer market forces, metrication is relatively complete, although some informal usage of non-metric units remains, particularly in Canada.

Historically, a wide range of non-metric units have been used in the US and UK, and in England before that, but many of these have fallen into disuse. This article will mainly deal with those commonly used or officially defined in the US.

Table of contents
1 Units of length
2 Units of area
3 Units of capacity and volume
4 Units of mass
5 Cooking measures
6 Grain measures
7 Units of temperature
8 Other units
9 See also

Units of length

The system for measuring length in the U.S. customary system is based on the inch, foot, yard, and mile. However, for each of these units there exist two slightly different definitions, yielding two different systems of measure - international measure, and U.S. survey measure. The relationships between the different units within each measure is the same, but each measure has a slightly different definition in terms of metric units.

One inch international measure is exactly 25.4 mm, while one inch U.S. survey measure is defined so that 39.37 inches is exactly one metre. For most applications, the difference is insignificant (about 3 millimetres per mile). International measure is used for everyday use, engineering, and commerce in the United States, while survey measure is only used for surveying.

International measure uses the same definition of the units involved as is used in the UK and other Commonwealth countries. U.S. survey measure uses an older definition of these units which the United States used prior to adopting international measure.

Sometimes, for surveying purposes, units known as Gunther's Chain Measure (or equivalently Surveyor's Chain Measure) are used. These units are defined as follows: To measure depths at sea, fathoms are used:

Units of area

The units of area in the U.S. customary system are based on the square inch (sq in). Since the U.S. customary system has two differing definitions of the inch, there are also two differing definitions for the square inch. But presuming international measure is used, 1 square inch is exactly 645.16 mm².

Units of capacity and volume

The cubic inch, cubic foot and cubic yard are commonly used for measuring volume. In addition, there is one group of units for measuring volumes of liquids, and one for measuring volumes of dry material.

Other than the cubic foot, cubic inch and cubic yard, these units are differently sized from the units in the Imperial system, although the names of the units are similar. Also, while the U.S. has separate systems for measuring the volumes of liquids and dry material, the Imperial system has one set of units for both.

Technically speaking, since these units are defined in terms of the inch, it would make a difference whether international or survey measure was used. However, in practice, the difference between the two definitions would be imperceptible, and in any case in defining volumes international measure is used.

Volume in general

Liquid volume

Dry volume

Units of mass

There have historically been four different English systems of mass: Tower weight, Troy weight, avoirdupois weight, and apothecaries weight. Tower weight fell out of use (due to legal prohibition) centuries ago, and was never used in the United States. Troy weight is still used to weigh precious metals. Apothecaries weight, once used in pharmacy, has been largely replaced by metric measurements. Avoirdupois weight is the primary system of mass in the U.S. customary system.

The Avoirdupois units are legally defined as measures of mass, but the names of these units are sometimes applied to measures of force. For instance, in most contexts, the pound avoirdupois is used as a unit of mass, but in the realm of physics, the term "pound" can represent "pound-force" (a unit of force properly abbreviated as "lbf").

Troy weight, avoirdupois weight and apothecaries weight are all defined in terms of the same basic unit, the grain, which is the same in all three systems. However, while each system has some overlap in the names of their units of measure (all have ounces and pounds, for example), the relationship between the grain and these other units within each system varies. For example, in apothecaries and troy weight, the pound and ounce are the same, but are different from the pound and ounce in avoirdupois, in terms of their relationships to grains and to each other. The systems also have different units between the grain and ounce (apothecaries has scruple & dram, troy has pennyweight, and avoirdupois has just dram).

To alleviate confusion, it is typical when publishing non-avoirdupois weights to mention the name of the system along with the unit. Precious metals, for example, are often weighed in "troy ounces", because just "ounce" would be more likely to be assumed to mean an ounce avoirdupois.

The pound avoirdupois, which forms the basis of the U.S. customary system of mass, is defined as exactly 453.59237 grams. All the other units of mass are defined in terms of it.

For the pound and smaller units, the U.S. customary system and the British Imperial system are identical. However, they differ when dealing with units larger than the pound. The definition of the pound avoirdupois in the British Imperial system is identical to that in the U.S. customary system.

Avoirdupois weight

See Avoirdupois

The ton and hundredweight above are sometimes referred to as the short ton, and the short hundredweight, to distinguish them from the British Imperial ton and hundredweight, which are larger and hence are referred to as the long ton and long hundredweight. The long ton and hundredweight have limited use in the United States, although they are officially recognized as units. Any unqualified reference in the U.S. to "ton" or "hundredweight" means the short ton and hundredweight mentioned above. Sometimes the terms "net" and "gross" are used instead of "short" and "long", respectively.

Apothecaries weight

The grain has the same definition as for Avoirdupois weight.

The pound and ounce apothecaries are identical to the pound and ounce Troy.

Troy weight

The grain has the same definition as for Avoirdupois weight.

Cooking measures

Measures of volume and weight used in cooking. Note that differing cooking measures are used in other countries.

Grain measures

These are derived from the volume measures.

Units of temperature

Other units

See also

Source: Appendix C, NIST Handbook 44, 2002 edition.