Cup (unit)

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Cup (unit)

The cup is a unit of measurement

Units of measurement

The definition, agreement and practical use of units of measurement have played a crucial role in human endeavour from early ages up to this day....
for volume, used in cooking to measure bulk foods, such as granulated sugar (dry measurement), and liquids (fluid

Fluid

A fluid is defined as a substance that continually deforms under an applied shear stress. All liquids and all gases are fluids. Fluids are a subset of the Phase and include liquids, gas, Plasma physics and, to some extent, plasticity ....
measurement). It is in common use in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
and nations influenced by them, such as Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. This cup is hardly ever used in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
or the rest of Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, however an informal cup referring to the volume of an average coffee cup (and thus noticeably different from the U.S.

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Encyclopedia

The cup is a unit of measurement

Units of measurement

Fluid

United States

Japan

United Kingdom

Europe

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
(and even in older Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
recipes).

Definitions

There is no internationally agreed standard definition of the cup, whose modern volume ranges between 200 and 250 millilitres. Because the cup sizes generally used in the many Commonwealth countries and the United States differ only by about 13 ml (0.5 fl oz

Fluid ounce

A fluid ounce is a unit of volume in both the Imperial unit and the United States customary units systems. It is common to refer to the unit simply as an ounce, especially in cases where no confusion with the unit of mass is likely to occur....
), the respective measures are close enough for cooking.

Commonwealth of Nations

;Imperial cup

The imperial cup was defined as half an imperial pint

Pint

The pint is an English unit of volume or capacity in the imperial unit and United States customary units. The imperial version is 20 imperial fluid ounces and is equivalent to 568 mL, while the U.S....
. The unit is not in official use.

1 imperial cup	=	0.5	imperial pints
=	2	imperial gills
=	10	imperial fluid ounces
=	284.130625	millilitres ˜ 284 ml
˜	19	international tablespoon Tablespoon A tablespoon is a type of large spoon usually used for serving. A tablespoonful, an amount equal to the capacity of one tablespoon, is commonly used as a unit of measurement of volume used in Cooking weights and measures .... s
˜	14¼	Australian tablespoons
˜	1.2009	U.S. customary United States customary units The United States Customary System for units of measurement, also known in the United States as English, Imperial or standard units, is the primary and most commonly-used system of units of measurement in the United States.... cups
˜	9.6076	U.S. customary fluid ounces

;Metric cup

In Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
one cup is defined as 250 millilitres. This is the commonly used cup.

1 metric cup	=	250	millilitres
=	16?	international tablespoons
=	12½	Australian tablespoons
˜	8.7988	imperial fluid ounces
˜	8.4535	U.S. customary fluid ounces

United States

;United States customary cup

United States customary cup is defined as half a U.S. pint.

1 U.S. customary cup	=	0.5	U.S. customary pints
=	2	U.S. customary gills
=	8	U.S. customary fluid ounces
=	16	U.S. customary tablespoon Tablespoon A tablespoon is a type of large spoon usually used for serving. A tablespoonful, an amount equal to the capacity of one tablespoon, is commonly used as a unit of measurement of volume used in Cooking weights and measures .... s
=	236.5882365	millilitres ˜ 237 ml
˜	15?	international tablespoons
˜	11¾	Australian tablespoons
˜	0.8327	imperial cups
˜	8.3267	imperial fluid ounces

;United States "legal" cup

The cup currently used in the United States for nutrition labelling is defined in United States law as 240 ml.

1 U.S. "legal" cup	=	240	millilitres
=	16	international tablespoons
=	12	Australian tablespoons
˜	8.1154	U.S. customary fluid ounces
˜	8.4468	imperial fluid ounces

Japan

;Japanese cup

The Japan

Japan

1 Japanese cup	=	200	millilitres
˜	7.0390	imperial fluid ounces
˜	6.7628	U.S. customary fluid ounces

;Go

The traditional Japanese cup, the go, is approximately 180 ml. 10 go make one sho, the traditional flask size, approximately 1.8 litres. Go cups are typically used for measuring rice, and sake
Sake

Sake is a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice.This beverage is called sake in English, but in Japanese language, sake or Honorific speech in Japanese refers to alcoholic drinks in general....
is typically sold by both the cup (180 ml) and flask (1.8 litre) sizes.

1 go	=	2401/13310	litres
˜	180.39	millilitres ˜ 180 ml
˜	6.3489	imperial fluid ounces
˜	6.0997	U.S. customary fluid ounces

Using volume measures to estimate mass

In Europe, cooking recipes normally state any liquid volumes larger than a few tablespoons in millilitres, the scale found on most measuring cup

Measuring cup

A measuring cup is a List of food preparation utensils used primarily to measure the volume of liquid or powder-form cooking ingredients such as water, milk, juice, flour, and sugar, especially for volumes from about 50 millilitre upwards....
s worldwide. Non-liquid ingredients are normally weighed in grams instead, using a kitchen scale, rather than measured in cups. Some recipes in Europe use the decilitre (1 dl = 100 ml) as a cup-like measure. For example, where an American customary recipe might specify "1 cup of sugar and 2 cups of milk", a European recipe might specify "200 g sugar and 500 ml of milk" (or ½ litre or 5 decilitres). Conversion between the two measures must take into account the density of the ingredients. Many European measuring cups have additional scales for common ingredients like sugar, flour, or rice to make the process easier.

Volume to mass conversions for some common cooking ingredients
ingredient	density g/ml	metric cup		imperial cup		U.S. customary cup
ingredient	density g/ml	g	oz	g	oz	g	oz
water	1	249–250	8.8	283–284	10	236–237	8.3
granulated sugar	0.8	200	7.0	230	8.0	190	6.7
wheat flour	0.5–0.6	120–150	4.4–5.3	140–170	5.0–6.0	120–140	4.2–5.0
table salt	1.2	300	10.6	340	12.0	280	10.0

Cup (unit)

Definitions

Commonwealth of Nations

United States

Japan

Using volume measures to estimate mass

External links