From French litre, from Medieval Latin litra, from Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra, “a Sicilian coin, a measure of weight”). Related to Latin lībra. Doublet of arratel, libbra, Libra, libra, lira, litra, livre, and rottol.

• Hyphenation: li‧tre
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈliː.tɚ/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• IPA^(key): [ˈli.ɾɚ] (Canada, US, flapping)
  • Homophones: leader, lieder

litre (plural litres)

1. The metric unit of fluid measure, equal to one cubic decimetre. Symbol: L, l, or ℓ.

   Holonyms: kilolitre < megalitre < gigalitre

   Meronyms: picolitre < nanolitre < microlitre < millilitre

   You should be able to fill four cups with one litre of water.

2. (informal) A measure of volume equivalent to a litre.

• The litre is not an SI unit but is accepted for use with SI units. The official SI symbols are the capital roman "L" or lower-case roman "l". The upper-case "L" is often used in English-speaking countries to avoid confusion with the number "1". The script symbol ℓ, while not officially sanctioned, was sometimes used in non-technical contexts to prevent the lower-case roman l from being confused with 1, the number one.
• This, rather than liter, is the spelling adopted by both the International Bureau of Weights and Measures and the International Organization for Standardization in their English language texts. However the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, in accordance with the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual, has chosen to use liter.

• liter (US)

• → Hindi: लीटर (līṭar)

Borrowed from Spanish litre.

litre (plural litres)

1. Lithraea caustica, a Chilean tree or bush.

litre (plural litres)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of litter.

• liter, relit, tiler, triel

Borrowed from French litre.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈli.tɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈli.tɾe]
• Rhymes: -itɾe

litre m (plural litres)

1. litre

• “litre”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “litre”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “litre” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “litre” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from Medieval Latin litra, from Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra, “a Sicilian coin, a measure of weight”).

• IPA^(key): /litʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Paris)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

litre m (plural litres)

1. litre

• litron

• “litre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• relit

• IPA^(key): /ˈl̠ʲitʲɾʲə/

litre f

1. (archaic) alternative form of litreach: genitive singular of litir
2. (archaic) alternative form of litreacha: nominative plural of litir

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “litre”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Borrowed from French litre.

litre m (plural litres)

1. (Jersey) litre

• IPA^(key): /ˈlitɾe/ [ˈli.t̪ɾe]
• Rhymes: -itɾe
• Syllabification: li‧tre

litre m (plural litres)

1. Lithraea caustica, a Chilean tree or bush.

• “litre”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

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