Etymograph

English

quart

Quart comes from Old French quarte ‘fourth’, and goes back to Latin quartus.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquartus‘one-fourth’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400quarte‘fourth’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quart
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history not traced here.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquartus‘one-fourth’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400quarte‘fourth’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quart
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto X: “Camber did possesse the Westerne quart.”

Every English word from Latin quartus

Today it means

noun A unit of liquid capacity equal to two pints; one-fourth (quarter) of a gallon. Equivalent to 1.136 liters in the UK and 0.946 liter (liquid quart) or 1.101 liters (dry quart) in the U.S.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin quartus / quart

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