acre English · revision 14924

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 975|origins=ine-pro *agro-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈeɪ.kə/, US /ˈeɪ.kɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|aker]], [[inh|ang|æcer|t=tilled field, open land]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from [[gem-pro|*akraz|t=field, pasture]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) cognate with [[osx|akkar]], [[ofs|ekker]], [[nl|akker]], [[goh|achar]] (modern [[de|Acker]]) and [[non|akr]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) and ultimately from [[ine-pro|*agro-|t=field]], the source of [[la|ager]] and [[grc|ἀγρός|tr=agrós]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) The spelling acre came under the influence of [[fro|acre]] and [[la-med|acra]], both borrowed from the Old English word.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A piece of tilled land, a field: about 975.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The OED explains the word as first open, untenanted country, then pasture and tilled land, and then a defined piece of land.^(Etymonline) In English it at first had no fixed size; in late Old English it was the land a yoke of oxen could plough in a day.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(NODE 1998) Statutes of the 13th century and later defined it as a strip 40 poles by 4.^(Etymonline) The old sense survives in ''God's acre'', a churchyard.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) An acre's length, a furlong, is from about 1380,^(OED 1989) and ''acres'' for large quantities from 1830.^(OED 1989) In Scotland to acre was to pay labourers at a fixed rate per acre.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 975 – a field.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1000 – a measure of land.^(OED 1989)

+ * 13th century – fixed by statute.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1380 – an acre's length, a furlong.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1830 – acres, large quantities.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A unit of land area equal to 4,840 square yards, about 4,047 square metres.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # In the plural, land; an [[estate]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' In the plural, a large amount: ''acres of space''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[acre-inch]]

+ * [[acreage]]

+ * [[acred]]

+ * [[acre-foot]]

+ * [[God's acre]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[acorn]]

+ * [[agriculture]]

+ * [[agrarian]]

+ * [[peregrine]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In New Zealand, to ''farm the long acre'' is to graze cows on the verges of a road.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}