The pint (/ˈpaɪnt/,listen (help·info); symbol pt,[1][2] sometimes abbreviated as p[3]) 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 1⁄5 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.
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Pints are commonly used for the sale of milk in the United Kingdom. The label gives both the metric and the imperial volume.
The imperial pint (≈ 568 ml) 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 (≈ 473 ml) and a less-common dry pint (≈ 551 ml). 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 pint 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.[4] Milk sold in returnable containers (such as glass bottles) 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.[5]
Historically, units called a pint (or the equivalent in the local language) 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[6] 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 (especially a dimple mug). Half-pint and pint mugs may therefore be referred to as pinta pequeña ('small pint') and pinta grande ('large pint').
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Originally Posted by Halgeir Wold
