ENGLISH
REFERENCE

litre

n. countable
B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford UK //lˈiːtɐ// litre Archaic General-service Informal

n. a unit for measuring how much liquid is in a container. One litre is about the same as four large glasses of water.

n. a metric unit of capacity equal to one cubic decimetre or one thousand cubic centimetres. Used primarily for measuring liquid volumes.


SIMPLE

I need to buy a two-litre bottle of water.

CONTEXTUAL

The car's engine has a capacity of 1.6 litres, making it quite fuel-efficient for city driving.

COMPLEX

Standard laboratory protocols require the solution to be diluted with exactly one litre of distilled water to ensure the chemical concentration remains consistent across all trials.

Etymology 1

From French litre, from Medieval Latin litra, from Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra, “a Sicilian coin, a measure of weight”). Related to Latin lībra. Doublet of arratel, libbra, Libra, libra, lira, litra, livre, and rottol.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Spanish litre.

Usage

Commonly spelled 'liter' in American English. Often abbreviated as 'l' or 'L'.

Pitfall

two litre of milktwo litres of milkWhen used as a noun with a number greater than one, the word must be plural.

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