ACRE

unit of land measurement in the British Imperial and U.S. Customary systems, equal to 43,560 square feet, or 160 square rods. One acre is equivalent to 0.4047 hectares (4,047 square metres). Derived from the Latin ager ("field"), the term acre originated in the primitive technique of measuring land by the oxen needed to plough it or the seed needed to sow it. The Anglo-Saxon acre was defined as a strip of land 1 110 furlong, or 40 x 4 rods (660 x 66 feet). "Acre" gradually came to mean a piece of land of any shape measuring the present 4,840 square yards. Larger variant acres include the Scottish, the Irish, and the Cheshire.