gallon

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English galoun, borrowed from Old Northern French galon (the Anglo-Norman galun),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which corresponds to Central Old French jalon, a measure for liquids.^[4][3][7] The French word is related to jale (“bowl”) and to jalaie (“a measure of capacity”),^[3][5][8] and goes back to Medieval Latin galleta (“bucket, pail; a measure of wine”), of uncertain origin.^[3][4][9] Barnhart and Etymonline suggest it may come from Gaulish galla (“vessel”),^[3][4] and several dictionaries call it perhaps Celtic.^{[10][6][11][12]} Skeat and Partridge take the French word as an augmentative.^[8][13] The same medieval Latin base gave Old English ġellet (“dish, basin”) and German Gelte (“bucket”).^[12][14] The modern French gallon is borrowed back from English.^[7] Johnson (1755) derived the word from Low Latin.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

An English measure of capacity, mainly for liquids: about 1225, spelled galun, in King Horn, in Barnhart;^[3] the OED's first quotation is from about 1300,^[2] Etymonline dates it to the late 13th century and Merriam-Webster to the 13th century.^[4][5] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary records the word in Anglo-Norman from the early 13th century, both for the measure and for a gallon jar.^[16]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word also named a vessel for liquids, as in the Wycliffite Bible, where it translates Latin lagena (a1382–1459);^[2][14] that sense is obsolete.^[2] Its use as a dry measure for corn, bread and other goods is recorded from 1684,^[2] and survived in the dialects of Kent, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Cambridgeshire, where potatoes and fruit were sold by the gallon.^[17] The figurative plural gallons, a great quantity, is recorded from 1575.^[2][11] Johnson (1755) defined it as a liquid measure of four quarts.^[15] The British imperial gallon and the smaller US gallon, based on the old wine gallon of 231 cubic inches, now differ by about a fifth.^[2][11][5] In Irish slang, to get one's gallon meant to be dismissed from a job, from the can in which labourers carried their drink.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – galun, in King Horn.^[3]
• c. 1300 – a measure of capacity.^[2]
• a1382 – a vessel for liquids (obsolete).^[2]
• 1475 – the spelling gallon.^[3]
• 1575 – figurative, a large amount.^[2]
• 1684 – a dry measure for corn, bread and similar goods.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A unit of liquid capacity equal to four quarts: the imperial gallon used in Britain is about 4.55 litres, the US gallon about 3.79 litres.
2. (Britain) A unit of dry capacity of the same size, used for grain and similar goods.
3. (informal, plural) A great quantity: They drank gallons of coffee during the exam week.

Word family

• gallonage
• ten-gallon hat
• wine gallon

Related words

• quart
• pint
• gill
• gantry

Usage notes

According to Ayto, an early modern dialect form gawn, combined with tree, gave gantry, originally a wooden stand for barrels.^[19]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
18. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
19. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black