What does millilitre mean?
A millilitre is a metric unit for measuring volume, equal to one thousandth of a litre and exactly the same as one cubic centimetre. It is used especially for small quantities of liquid in medicine, cooking, laboratory work, and product labelling. The abbreviation mL is more common in technical and commercial contexts, while spelling out the full unit often gives greater clarity to general readers. Although the metric system defines the unit in decimal terms, the name also reflects the familiar millilitre bottle found in pharmacies, supermarkets, and travel kits. Millilitres are also used in rates and concentrations, such as millilitres per minute or millilitres per litre, where accurate measurement is important. In American English, the unit is normally spelled milliliter; British English uses millilitre.
nounA metric unit of volume equal to one thousandth of a litre, or one cubic centimetre. It is abbreviated mL.
- A unit of volume equal to one thousandth of a litre, or one cubic centimetre.
"She poured 250 millilitres of cold water into the blender."
"The medicine bottle contains 100 millilitres of syrup."
"The label specifies a concentration of 50 millilitres per litre."
In the abbreviation, plural quantities are normally written with the unchanged symbol, as in 250 mL.
"The recipe requires 300 millilitres of water."
One millilitre occupies exactly one cubic centimetre, making it one of the metric system's smallest commonly used liquid-volume units.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does millilitre come from?
Millilitre combines the prefix milli-, meaning one thousandth and deriving from Latin mille, with litre, a unit whose name comes through French from Latin libra, a unit of weight. The compound belongs to the metric vocabulary formed in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the metric system was established and international use of decimal units expanded.
Related word forms
How millilitre is actually used
The standard plural is millilitres. The unit is commonly abbreviated mL, regardless of the spelling used in full; in US English it is normally written milliliter.
Easily confused with millilitre
Millilitre is the standard British spelling, whereas milliliter is the standard spelling in the United States.