Pints to Milliliters

The pint is half a quart and an eighth of a gallon, so it inherits the split between the US and British gallons. The US liquid pint is 473 mL; the imperial pint used in the UK and Ireland is 568 mL, about 20% more. The imperial pint has 20 imperial fluid ounces, the US pint 16 US fluid ounces, and because the fluid ounces differ too, the two pints cannot be converted by counting ounces.

There is also a US dry pint of about 551 mL, used for berries and cherry tomatoes sold in pint baskets.

In British and Irish pubs, draft beer and cider must be served in the legal measures of a third, half or two-thirds of a pint, or in multiples of half a pint, so a pint there is always 568 mL. Milk in the UK is still sold in pint bottles and cartons, labeled 568 mL, with the four-pint jug at 2.272 L. In an American bar, a pint glass is usually 16 US fl oz, 473 mL, though many shaker glasses actually hold less once the head is poured.

Elsewhere the pint is a container size. A pint of ice cream in the US is 473 mL, and a whole-blood donation is often described as about a pint, which matches the roughly 450 to 500 mL collected.

The mistake to watch is using a US measuring jug for a British recipe. A UK recipe calling for 1 pint of stock means 568 mL; using 473 mL leaves it nearly 100 mL short, which can turn a soup into a sauce. Old saying aside, a US pint of water weighs about 1.04 lb, while an imperial pint weighs about 1.25 lb.

To work with larger US measures, see quarts to liters. Fluid ounces are on fluid ounces to milliliters.