Etymology
From Middle English acre, aker, from Old English æcer (field where crops are grown), from Proto-West Germanic *ak(k)r, from Proto-Germanic *akraz (field), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵros (field). Cognate with Scots acre, aker, acker (acre, field, arable land), North Frisian ecir (field, a measure of land), West Frisian eker (field), Dutch akker (field), German Acker (field, acre), Norwegian Ã¥ker (field) and Swedish Ã¥ker (field), Icelandic akur (field), Latin ager (land, field, acre, countryside), Ancient Greek ἀγÏός or agrós (field), Sanskrit अजà¥à¤° or ájra (field, plain).
Noun
acre (plural acres)
- An English unit of land area (symbol: a. or ac.) originally denoting a day's plowing for a yoke of oxen, now standardized as 4,840 square yards or 4,046.86 square meters.
- Any of various similar units of area in other systems.
Derived terms
- acreable
- acreage
- acre's breadth
- acred
- acre's length
- acreless
- acreme
- black acre
- church acre
- Cornish acre
- Cunningham acre
- English acre
- Irish acre
- Scottish acre
- share acre
- statute acre
- tenantry acre
- Welsh acre
- white acre
Related terms
- acorn
- Greenacre
- wiseacre
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors copied and adjusted this Wiktionary entry in accordance with NWE standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit for this article is due to both New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions at Wiktionary is accessible to researchers here: