Furlongs
Abbreviation/Symbol:
furlong
Unit of:
Worldwide use:
A furlong is 220 yards, an eighth of a mile, or 201.168 meters. The name means 'furrow long' – the length a plough team would work before turning.
Horse racing is where the furlong survives, with race distances in Britain, Ireland and the United States quoted in miles and furlongs. A six-furlong sprint is about 1,207m.
Outside racing the furlong has mostly gone, and its best-known appearance is in furlongs per fortnight, about 0.000166 meters per second, a unit that exists purely as a joke.
Definition:
A furlong is 220 yards, or one eighth of a mile (201.168m). It is the unit of distance in horse racing in the UK and the US, where a mile race is eight furlongs.
Originally the furlong was the length of a furrow ploughed by a team of oxen, which is what the Old English furhlang means – 'furrow long'. It was later fixed at 220 yards and used in land surveying.
Origin:
A furlong was the length of a furrow in a ploughed field in medieval England, and the name says as much: Old English furh, 'furrow', plus lang, 'long'.
The furlong was widely used in agriculture and land measurement. It was considered a convenient unit for measuring distances between fields and determining the size of plots of land. In fact, the furlong was often used as a standard unit for land surveys and property boundaries.
The 1593 Act of Parliament that fixed the mile at eight furlongs also settled the furlong at 220 yards, one-eighth of a mile. It survives in horse racing, in both the UK and the US.
Common references:
Epsom derby is run just over 12 furlongs.
Usage context:
A furlong is 220 yards – an eighth of a mile, or exactly 201.168 meters. The word is Old English furlang, 'furrow long', the length of a furrow in a ploughed field.
Furlongs are still used in horse racing in the UK, Ireland and the US: a sprint is five or six furlongs, and the Derby is 12 (a mile and a half).
Outside the racecourse the furlong's best-known appearance is as a joke: furlongs per fortnight, which works out at about 0.17 millimeters per second.