kilderkin
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An old English liquid measure, usually being half a barrel; containing 18 English beer gallons, or 83.178 L.
Example Sentences
- "1882: 23 Hen. VIII, cap. 4... The barrel of beer is to hold 36 gallons, the kilderkin 18 gallons the firkin 9. But the barrel, kilderkin, and firkin of ale are to contain 32, 16, and 8 gallons. — James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 4, p. 205."
- "Barrels came in firkins, nine gallons; kilderkins, eighteen gallons; halves, twenty-seven gallons; barrels, thirty-six gallons and hogsheads, fifty-four."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English kilderkyn, dissimilatory variant of kynderkyn, from Middle Dutch kinderkin, a variant of kinerkijn, itself a diminutive of kintal. See quintal.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: kilderkyn, kinderkin
Inflected Forms
kilderkins (plural)
kinderkin (alternative)