# acre

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈeɪ.kə/ · frequency rank #7,877

## Definitions
1. An English unit of land area (symbol: a. or ac.) originally denoting a day's ploughing for a yoke of oxen, now standardized as 4,840 square yards or 4,046.86 square metres.
2. An English unit of land area (symbol: a. or ac.) originally denoting a day's ploughing for a yoke of oxen, now standardized as 4,840 square yards or 4,046.86 square metres.
3. Any of various similar units of area in other systems.
4. A wide expanse.
5. A large quantity.
6. A field.
7. The acre's breadth by the length, English units of length equal to the statute dimensions of the acre: 22 yd (≈20 m) by 220 yd (≈200 m).
8. A duel fought between individual Scots and Englishmen in the borderlands.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-?
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵros
Proto-Germanic *akraz
Proto-West Germanic *akr
Old English æcer
Middle English aker
English acre
From Middle English acre, aker, from Old English æcer (“field where crops are grown”), from Proto-West Germanic *akr, from Proto-Germanic *akraz (“field”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵros (“field”). Doublet of agriculture.
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 åker (“field”) and Swedish åker (“field”), Icelandic akur (“field”), Latin ager (“land, field, acre, countryside”), Ancient Greek ἀγρός (agrós, “field”), Sanskrit अज्र (ájra, “field, plain”).

## Easily confused with
- **AR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-ar)
- **AE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-ae)
- **are** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-are)
- **air** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-air)
- **age** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-age)
- **ACT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-act)
- **art** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-art)
- **arm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-arm)
- **ate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-ate)
- **arc** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-arc)
- **ave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-ave)
- **aye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-aye)
- **awe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-awe)
- **axe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-axe)
- **ark** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-ark)
- **ale** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-ale)
- **Ari** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-ari)
- **ape** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-ape)
- **ara** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-ara)
- **ACS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acre-vs-acs)

## Common misspellings (2)
`accre`, `acrre`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/acre