unit of length


Milestone, Knightsbridge, London - - 1590514.jpg
The distance between Westminster and London is 1 mile
General information
Unit systemEnglish unit
Unit oflength
Symbolmi or m 
1 mi in ...... is equal to ...
   SI units   1609.344 m
   imperial/US units   
   nautical units   0.86898 nmi

Statute mileEdit


Feet Yard Chain Furlong Mile Kilometres
5,280 1,760 80 8 1 1.609344

Nautical mileEdit

The nautical mile is used for sea or air travel.


Now the nautical mile is defined as 1,852 metres.

1 nautical mile = 1,852 metres (by definition)
≈ 6,076 feet
≈ 1.151 statute miles


Roman mileEdit


1 Roman mile = 1,000 Roman paces (by definition)
≈ 1,479 metres
≈ 4,852 feet

Other milesEdit



Even in English-speaking countries that use the metric system (for example, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand), the mile is still used in many idioms. These include:

  • A country mile is used colloquially to mean a very long distance.
  • "Give him an inch and he'll take a mile" – a corruption of "Give him an inch and he'll take an ell"[1][2] (the person in question will become greedy if shown generosity)
  • "Go a mile a minute" (move very fast)
  • "Talk a mile a minute" (speak very fast)
  • "Milestone" (an event showing a lot of progress)


  1. Concise Oxford English Dictionary (5th edition; 1964). Oxford University Press.
  2. John Heywood (1562). The proverbs, epigrams, and miscellanies of John Heywood ... Print. for subscribers, by the Early English Drama Society. pp. 95–. Retrieved 1 December 2011.