the.com/firkin
a beer barrel so quaint its name sounds like a polite curse word
means A small cask or barrel, traditionally holding a quarter of a full barrel — about nine imperial gallons of beer or ale.
from From Middle Dutch 'vierdekijn,' a diminutive meaning 'little fourth' — 'vierde' being 'fourth' (a cousin of English 'fourth') plus the tiny-making '-kijn.' The name says exactly what it is: a quarter-sized cask. English borrowed it in the late medieval period, softening the spelling toward the homely 'firkin' we know, and it became a standard unit for measuring out beer, butter, and other goods sold by the cask.
- exact volume
- nine imperial gallons, roughly 72 pints
- quarter cask
- equals one fourth of a full barrel
- old root
- from Dutch vierdekijn, meaning little fourth
- cask ale
- still the standard size for British real ale
- butter unit
- also once measured 56 pounds of butter
for instance
cornish pilchard firkins — traditional 56-pound wooden barrels used for preserving pilchards in cornwall