What does tare mean?
Tare chiefly refers to the weight of an empty container or package. In commercial and industrial weighing, it is the amount subtracted from the gross weight to determine the net weight of the contents. For example, a ten-kilogram box holding three kilograms of material has a tare of seven kilograms. “Tare weight” is also a standard term for the empty weight itself. The word can be used as a verb in the more specialized sense of determining that empty weight before goods are added. Tare has a separate botanical meaning: it names a pea-family plant with small, edible seeds, particularly the species Vicia sativa. Although the weighing sense is dominant in modern usage, the plant sense explains why the word may occur in agricultural, botanical, and food contexts. Tare is especially useful in commerce and logistics, where precise distinctions between gross, net, and empty-container weights are essential.
The weight of an empty container or package, or the amount deducted from a gross weight to determine the net weight of the contents.
"The scale has been programmed with the tare for each type of packaging."
Common in trade, shipping, laboratory, and industrial contexts; also appears in the standard compound “tare weight.”
A plant of the pea family, especially the common tare, Vicia sativa, which has edible seeds.
"Common tare grew along the field boundary and was harvested for its seeds."
This botanical sense is less frequent than the weighing sense and should not automatically be assumed from every occurrence of the word.
To determine the empty weight of a container or package.
"The operator tared the vessel before adding the reagent."
Chiefly technical or commercial; usually used when preparing a container or package to hold contents.
The regular plural is used for multiple tare weights or, in the botanical sense, for multiple plants of the tare species.
"The technician entered three different tares for the three container sizes."
The tare is the empty-container detective of weighing: once it is known, the true weight of the contents can be revealed.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does tare come from?
The weighing sense entered English through French tare, which derives from an Arabic term associated with a balance or weighing. The separate plant name is older and has a different historical source, traditionally traced through Middle English to an Old English plant name. The modern verb “to tare” developed from the French verb meaning to weigh or calculate weight, in turn connected with the noun’s weighing sense.
Related word forms
How tare is actually used
In weighing contexts, tare is normally used as a noun meaning empty-container weight or as the modifier in “tare weight.” The verb form is uncommon and chiefly occurs in technical or commercial language. The plant name is less common in everyday speech and can be confused with related plants also called tare.
Easily confused with tare
Tare is the weight of an empty container, whereas a tear is a rip or a drop of moisture.
Tare concerns the weight of packaging or containers, whereas a tire is the rubber covering around a wheel.