Two cups make a US pint. That is 16 fluid ounces, or 473 mL — and the doubling is the easiest part of the US measuring system to remember, because every step from cup to pint to quart is simply twice the one before.
The pint is also where the US and UK systems diverge most visibly. A British pint is 568 mL against the American 473 mL, a difference of 20% that anyone who has ordered a beer on both sides of the Atlantic has noticed.
| Pints | Cups | Fluid ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¼ pint | 0.5 | 4 | 118.29 |
| ½ pint | 1 | 8 | 236.59 |
| 1 pint | 2 | 16 | 473.18 |
| 1½ pints | 3 | 24 | 709.76 |
| 2 pints (1 quart) | 4 | 32 | 946.35 |
| 3 pints | 6 | 48 | 1,419.53 |
| 4 pints (½ gallon) | 8 | 64 | 1,892.71 |
| 8 pints (1 gallon) | 16 | 128 | 3,785.41 |
| Type of pint | Millilitres | In US cups | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|---|
| US liquid pint | 473.18 | 2.00 | US recipes, ice cream, US beer |
| Imperial (UK) pint | 568.26 | 2.40 | UK pubs, older British recipes |
| US dry pint | 550.61 | 2.33 | Berries and produce sold by volume |
All three are called a pint. The imperial pint holds 20 imperial fluid ounces and the US pint holds 16 US fluid ounces — the count differs as well as the size.
The doubling ladder
Every US liquid measure above the fluid ounce is a doubling or quadrupling of the one below:
- 1 cup = 8 fluid ounces = 16 tablespoons
- 1 pint = 2 cups = 16 fluid ounces
- 1 quart = 2 pints = 4 cups = 32 fluid ounces
- 1 gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints = 16 cups = 128 fluid ounces
The names carry the logic. A "pint" comes from a mark painted on a vessel, but a "quart" is short for quarter — a quarter of a gallon. So once you know a gallon is 16 cups, a quart is 4 and a pint is 2.
Halving works just as cleanly: half a pint is one cup, and a quarter pint is half a cup. Recipes calling for "½ pint of cream" want exactly one cup.
Why a British pint is bigger
A US pint is 473.18 mL and an imperial pint is 568.26 mL — the British one is 20.1% larger. The gap comes from the 1824 Weights and Measures Act, which redefined the imperial gallon as the volume of 10 pounds of water. The US had already kept the older English wine gallon of 231 cubic inches, so the two systems diverged and never reconverged.
The knock-on effects:
- An imperial pint is 20 imperial fluid ounces; a US pint is 16 US fluid ounces
- A UK pint of beer is about 1.2 US pints — roughly an extra 95 mL, or a third of a can
- Older British recipes calling for "a pint" of liquid need about 20% more than an American cook would pour
Confusingly, the imperial fluid ounce is the *smaller* unit — 28.41 mL against the US 29.57 mL. The imperial pint is bigger because it contains 20 of them rather than 16.
Dry pints: berries are measured differently
The US keeps a separate dry pint for produce sold by volume. It is 550.61 mL, about 16% larger than the liquid pint, and works out to roughly 2.33 liquid cups.
That is why a pint box of blueberries or cherry tomatoes looks bigger than a pint of cream. Dry pints and quarts exist to measure fruit and vegetables in the same units farmers have always used, and they are one-eighth and one-quarter of a US dry gallon respectively.
For cooking this rarely matters: recipes calling for a pint mean the liquid pint, and dry ingredients like flour get measured in ordinary liquid-measure cups. The exception is a recipe specifying a quantity of fresh produce by the pint, where the box is the dry measure.
“A pint’s a pound the world around”
The old rhyme is a useful approximation for water, and it works for the US pint: 473.18 mL of water weighs 473.18 grams, which is 1.043 pounds. Close enough for mental arithmetic.
It fails badly for the imperial pint, though. A UK pint of water weighs 568.26 grams — 1.25 pounds. The British version of the rhyme is "a pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter," which is more accurate and much less catchy.
And the rhyme only ever applies to water. A pint of honey weighs about 1.5 lb; a pint of flour, about 0.6 lb. Ingredients specified by weight need a scale, not a measuring cup.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many cups are in a pint?
Two US cups. A pint is 16 fluid ounces and a cup is 8, so 16 ÷ 8 = 2. A pint is also half a quart.
How many cups are in 2 pints?
Four cups, or 32 fluid ounces — which is also exactly one quart.
How many ounces are in a pint?
16 US fluid ounces. An imperial pint holds 20 imperial fluid ounces, which is 568 mL against the US pint’s 473 mL.
Is a UK pint the same as a US pint?
No. An imperial pint is 568.26 mL and a US pint is 473.18 mL, so the British pint is about 20% larger. A UK pint of beer is roughly 1.2 US pints.
How many cups are in a half pint?
One cup, or 8 fluid ounces. So a recipe asking for half a pint of cream wants exactly one cup.
How many cups are in a dry pint?
About 2.33 US liquid cups. A dry pint is 550.61 mL against the liquid pint’s 473.18 mL — roughly 16% larger. Dry pints are used for berries and produce, not for measuring in recipes.