Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🇬🇧 A UK liquid unit 🇺🇸 A US liquid unit
fluid ounce

fluid ounce

1 3.2
A unit for measuring small amounts of liquid, about 28 millilitres in Britain and about 30 millilitres in America
  • noun
  • /ˈfluːɪd aʊns/
translation icon : onza líquida
  • Water is the ideal source of hydration, and you should drink at least sixty-four fluid ounces per day.
  • 5 fluid ounces
  • 8 fluid ounces
  • 1 fluid ounce

Examples

  • The recipe calls for 8 fluid ounces of vegetable broth to enhance the flavor.

  • I opened a can of soda and poured out 12 fluid ounces into a glass.

  • Ricki, I just used half a regular can, which I believe is measured by fluid ounces.

    Blog text (2)

  • He drank 16 fluid ounces of water after his workout to stay hydrated.

Synonyms

fluidounce
vsfluid ounce
  • UK
9.9

A British unit for measuring liquids and dry things equal to about 28 milliliters

is used only for measuring liquids and shows two regional size variants

Surface Forms

fluid ounce singular
fluid ounces plural

Morphology

fluid + ounce

The compound is compositional: 'fluid' (liquid) modifies 'ounce' (a unit/measure), so a learner who knows both words will infer it denotes a unit for measuring liquids. While the exact quantity (≈29.57 ml) is not predictable from the parts, the general meaning 'a volume measure for liquids' is directly derivable and this pattern is cross-linguistically common.

Etymology

Fluid ounce comes from old measuring systems where people split a pint into twenty small parts. Fluid means liquid and ounce meant a small measure, so a fluid ounce became a tiny unit to measure 'liquids'.