A very common metric unit of volume equal to 0.001 cubic meters, about 1.057 U.S. quarts. The liter is a special name for the cubic decimeter.
Originally the liter was defined as the volume of 1 kilogram of water, and the gram was defined as the mass of 1 cubic centimeter of water. This caused slight errors as the two definitions did not match exactly, making the liter equal to 1.000 028 cubic decimeter (dm3). In 1901 the definition was changed to accept these errors and the liter became formally defined as 1.000 028 cubic decimeter (dm3). Finally in 1964 that awkward definition was removed and the liter was defined as exactly 1 cubic decimeter (dm3).
Both the lowercase l and uppercase L are acceptable symbols for the liter. Though the U.S. government recommends using the uppercase L to avoid confusion with the number 1.
litre
Symbol: L
Alternate symbols: l
The French spelling for the Liter. Common in Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and France.
