quart

The quart is a unit of volume used in the US customary and British imperial systems. It represents one quarter of a gallon and has varied historically. The name derives from the French quart, from Latin quartus, meaning one fourth.

In the United States, there are two distinct quarts. The US liquid quart equals 32 US fluid ounces, about 0.946353 liters, and is one quarter of a US liquid gallon. The US dry quart equals one quarter of a US dry gallon, about 67.2 cubic inches, or roughly 1.10064 liters. The US dry quart and liquid quart are not interchangeable in recipes or measurements.

In the British imperial system, the imperial quart is 40 imperial fluid ounces, about 1.1365225 liters, and is one quarter of an imperial gallon (which is 4.54609 liters). The imperial gallon is larger than the US gallon, so the imperial quart exceeds the US liquid quart in size.

Uses for quarts commonly appear in cooking, beverage packaging, and household measurements. In scientific and most modern international contexts, liters or milliliters are preferred. The quart remains familiar primarily in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in historical or regional UK references.

Historical notes indicate that quart values varied by region and era before standardization in the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, distinctions between liquid and dry quarts in the US, and between US and imperial quarts, reflect the separate measurement systems still used in those regions.