What old English unit equalling inch (8.46 mm) is the base for the English and the US shoe sizing system?
Barleycorn (unit) Barleycorn (unit) The barleycorn is a small English unit of length equal to of an inch (i.e., close to ) still used as the basis of shoe sizes in English-speaking countries. Under the "c." AD 1300 Composition of Yards and Perches, one of the statutes of uncertain date that was notionally in force until the 1824 Weights and Measures Act, "3 barly cornes dry and rounde" were to serve as the basis for the inch and thence the larger units of feet, yards, perches and thus of the acre, an important unit of area. The notion of three barleycorns composing
Foot (unit) as an alternative expression of length in Canada officially defined as a unit derived from the meter although both the U.K. and Canada have partially metricated their units of measurement. The measurement of altitude in international aviation is one of the few areas where the foot is used outside the English-speaking world. The length of the international foot corresponds to a human foot with shoe size of 13 (UK), 14 (US male), 15.5 (US female) or 46 (EU sizing). Historically the human body has been used to provide the basis for units of length. The foot of a white male