---
title: "Pint: what it means in cooking — Tiny Plates"
description: "A US pint is 473 ml and a British pint is 568 ml, a fifth larger. Here is how to tell which one a recipe means and how to convert it."
url: "https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/pint"
---

# Pint

A US pint is 473 ml and a British pint is 568 ml, a fifth larger. Here is how to tell which one a recipe means and how to convert it.

Also called Pints, pt, Imperial pint.

A pint is a unit of volume for liquids, and sometimes for berries. There are two sizes. The US pint is 16 [fluid ounces](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/fluid-ounce), or 473 ml. The British, or imperial, pint is 20 imperial fluid ounces, or 568 ml. That is about a fifth more. Two pints make a [quart](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/quart) in both systems.

## How to use it

| Measure | US              | Imperial (UK, Ireland) |
| ------- | --------------- | ---------------------- |
| 1 pint  | 473 ml, 2 cups  | 568 ml                 |
| ½ pint  | 237 ml, 1 cup   | 284 ml                 |
| ¼ pint  | 118 ml, ½ cup   | 142 ml (a gill)        |
| 2 pints | 946 ml, 1 quart | 1.14 liters            |

To work out which pint a recipe means, look at where it was written. American recipes use US pints. British and Irish recipes from before the 1970s use imperial pints, and many newer ones give milliliters as well. Canada used the imperial pint in older recipes too.

In the US, a "pint" of berries or cherry tomatoes is a small basket that holds a dry pint, about 550 ml. By weight, a pint of strawberries is roughly 300 to 350 g (about ¾ lb), and a pint of blueberries is about 350 g.

## Common mistakes

* Using a US pint in a British recipe for custard, batter or a sauce. You would be about 95 ml (about 6½ tablespoons) short of liquid, which makes a custard too firm or a batter too thick.
* Thinking 1 pint is 2 cups everywhere. That is only true for US cups and US pints.
* Buying a "pint" of cream in the UK. Cream there is sold in milliliters, often 300 ml or 600 ml cartons, which are close to half an imperial pint and a full one.

## In recipes

You will see "1 pint [heavy cream](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/heavy-cream)" in American recipes, which is 2 [cups](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/cup) or 473 ml. British recipes say "½ pint double cream" (284 ml) or "1 pint milk" (568 ml). "Pt" is short for pint. When a recipe gives [milliliters](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/milliliter), use those.

## Where it comes from

The US kept an older English wine measure for liquids after independence. In 1824 Britain replaced its measures with the imperial system, which used a larger gallon, so the British pint grew and the American pint did not.

## Related terms

* [QuartA US quart is 946 ml, just under a liter, and equals 4 cups or 2 pints. The old British quart is larger. Here is how to convert quarts.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/quart)
* [Fluid ounceA fluid ounce measures volume, not weight. A US fl oz is 29.6 ml and a British one is 28.4 ml. Here is how they compare to cups and pints.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/fluid-ounce)
* [CupA US cup is about 240 ml, a metric cup is 250 ml, and a cup of flour weighs far less than a cup of sugar. Here is how to measure and convert.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/cup)
* [MilliliterA milliliter (ml) is a thousandth of a liter, the metric unit for measuring liquids. See how ml converts to teaspoons, cups and fluid ounces.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/milliliter)
* [Heavy creamHeavy cream is rich cream with at least 36 percent fat that whips well and can boil without curdling. Here are its UK, Swedish and Australian names.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/heavy-cream)

[More in measurements](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/category/measurements)[Every term from A to Z](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary)