gram calorie

6.1

A unit of heat equal to energy needed to raise 1 gram of water by 1°C at normal air pressure

noun
/ˈɡræm ˈkæləˌri/

Archaic

: caloría gramo

A gram calorie is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.

Examples

One gram calorie is a very small amount of energy, much less than a dietary Calorie.
The scientist measured the heat released as exactly one gram calorie.
Nutrition labels often refer to kilocalories rather than the smaller gram calorie.
One gram calorie is needed to heat water.
The recipe requires 200 gram calories of energy.
In scientific experiments, energy changes are often expressed in gram calories to measure heat transfer.
When calculating dietary energy, one should remember that a gram calorie is much smaller than a kilocalorie.

Synonyms

small calorie

vsgram calorie

Specialized

6.3

Amount of heat that raises one gram of water by one degree Celsius at normal air pressure

has identical meaning but differs only in the term used

Surface Forms

gram calorie singular

gram calories plural

Morphology

gram + calorie

The meaning is directly compositional: 'calorie' names a unit of energy and 'gram' specifies the mass basis, so 'gram calorie' denotes the calorie associated with one gram of substance (the small calorie). This follows regular naming patterns for measurement units and is predictable across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words can infer the meaning.

Etymology

The unit gram calorie comes from a simple experiment: the word calorie was defined as 'the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius'. So the name tells you it measures a very small amount of heat energy.