An Acre Was What One Ox Team Could Plough in a Day
An acre is a unit of land area. Its odd size comes from a day's ploughing rather than any round number.
An acre is a unit of land area, equal to 4,840 square yards or about 4,047 square metres. The awkward figure has a practical explanation: an acre was as much land as one man with a team of oxen could plough in a day, and it was defined as a furlong long by a chain wide — 220 yards by 22 yards. A furlong was a furrow-long, the distance oxen could pull before resting. That is why medieval fields were long and narrow rather than square.
- A land area unit. *Ten acres.*
- 4,840 square yards. *The definition.*
- Furlong — a furrow long. *A furlong.*
- Chain — 22 yards. *A chain.*
- Old English — *æcer*, a field. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | acre | An acre. |
| Plural | acres | Acres. |
| Noun | acreage | Acreage. |
| Related | furlong | A furlong. |
| Old English | æcer | A field. |
- The farm covers two hundred acres.Land.
- A furlong by a chain.Definition.
- It was a day's ploughing.Origin.
Old land measures
- Furlong — 220 yards, a furrow's length
- Chain — 22 yards, the surveyor's chain
- Acre — one furlong by one chain
- Rod, pole or perch — 5½ yards, a quarter chain
- Hide — enough land to support one household, roughly 120 acres
Old English *æcer*, a field or tilled land, of Germanic origin, related to Latin *ager*, a field.
Why is an acre such an odd size?
It was as much as one ox team could plough in a day, defined as a furlong long by a chain wide, not chosen as a round number.
Why were medieval fields long and narrow?
Because turning an ox team was slow and difficult, so ploughmen made the furrows as long as possible.