Feet to Ells (ft to ell)

1 foot equals 0.2666666667 ells (rounded).

1 foot = 0.2666666667 ells

How to convert feet to ells

To convert feet to ells, multiply the number of feet by 0.2666666667. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply ells by 3.75.

ells = feet × 0.2666666667

Example: 10 feet = 2.666666667 ells.

About these units

Foot (ft)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

12 inches. Defined as exactly 0.3048 meters. Still the standard unit for height, altitude in aviation and room dimensions in the US and UK.

Human anatomy supplied the idea: an adult foot is roughly 15 percent of body height. Ancient cultures turned that into standards, but not the same one. The Greek pous was about 302 mm, the standard Roman pes about 295.7 mm, and a Harappan foot of about 335 mm has been reported from the Indus Valley. Historically, a foot fell somewhere between about 250 and 335 mm. Charlemagne tried to standardize units around 790 with little lasting success, and in 1593 English law fixed the statute mile at 5,280 feet.

The modern foot dates from the 1959 International Yard and Pound Agreement, which defined the yard as exactly 0.9144 meter and so the foot as exactly 0.3048 meter; the UK adopted it on 1 January 1964. The US survey foot, defined in 1893 as 1200/3937 meter, was deprecated on 31 December 2022. Feet remain in everyday use for height and rooms in the US, and ISO shipping containers are defined in them. Aviation altitudes use them too: flight level 330 means 33,000 feet.

1 foot = 0.3048 meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Foot (unit); Wikipedia: Mile; NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8: conversion factors

Ell (ell)

Medieval EnglishHistorical unit (no longer in standard use)

45 inches (1.143 m). An English cloth measure, about the length of an arm. Other countries' ells ranged from about 0.46 m (Viking) to 1.37 m (the French aune).

Elbow and ell share a root: Old English eln meant the forearm, and the Latin ulna is a distant cousin. The ell began as an arm-length cubit, and later cloth ells grew longer. English tailors and drapers used one of 45 inches, a yard and a quarter, equal to 1.143 m, the figure used here. Edward I required every English town to keep an ell-wand as a standard rod for official measurement, and a surviving iron ell-wand hangs in a church on Gotland.

Each region had its own ell, which is why the unit is flagged as varying. A Scottish ell was about 37 inches (0.94 m), fixed in 1661 and abolished by the 1824 Weights and Measures Act. The Flemish ell was 27 inches (68.6 cm), and English importers of Dutch cloth bought by it. The French aune was about 137 cm, while German and Scandinavian ells were far shorter, from roughly 55 to 63 cm. Linen was sold by the English ell, but tapestry by the Flemish one.

1 ell = 1.143 meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Ell; Wiktionary: ell

Related conversions

See all length units.