Kilometers to Furlongs (km to fur)

1 kilometer equals 4.970969538 furlongs (rounded).

1 kilometer = 4.970969538 furlongs

How to convert kilometers to furlongs

To convert kilometers to furlongs, multiply the number of kilometers by 4.970969538. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply furlongs by 0.201168.

furlongs = kilometers × 4.970969538

Example: 10 kilometers = 49.70969538 furlongs.

About these units

Kilometer (km)

Metric (SI)Current unit

1,000 meters. The standard unit for road distances in most countries.

A name for 1,000 meters took a while to settle. In 1793 France's National Convention made the metre the sole French unit of length, and the first proposed name for the thousand-metre multiple was millaire. Everyday French usage then leaned on the myriametre, 10,000 meters, well into the 1800s. The Netherlands adopted the kilometre in 1817, under the local name mijl, and made it the only official unit of that size in 1867. In 1935 the CIPM dropped the myria- prefix, which left the kilometre as the standard unit for road-scale distances.

Kilo- is the SI prefix for a thousand, and the kilometre is now the preferred unit for land distances in most of the world, with the United States, the United Kingdom and Liberia among those that still use the mile. One kilometre is about 0.621 mile. The main span of Lisbon's 25 de Abril Bridge, at 1.013 km, gives a sense of the scale. Even its pronunciation has been argued over: in 1970 Australia's Metric Conversion Board made stress on the first syllable official, although Prime Minister Gough Whitlam argued for stress on the second. Military slang in several countries calls it a klick.

1 kilometer = 1,000 meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Kilometre; Wikipedia: Metric prefix; BIPM: history of the metre

Furlong (fur)

US & ImperialTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

220 yards, one eighth of a mile (201.168 m). Still used to measure horse races in the UK, US and Ireland.

Furrow plus long gives furlong, from the Old English furh and lang. A field strip one furlong in length was how far a team of oxen was thought to plough before pausing. The furlong has also long been treated as the equivalent of the Roman stadium, an ancient unit of similar size.

Its size was fixed against other units: 40 rods, 10 chains, 220 yards or 660 feet, which equals exactly 201.168 m. An acre was defined as one furlong long by one chain wide, so ten acres make a square furlong. When England shortened the foot in the late thirteenth century the furlong grew from 600 old feet to 660 new ones, keeping its length in rods. Eight furlongs make a mile. Official use ended in the UK under the Weights and Measures Act 1985, but racecourses, farms and canal signs still count in furlongs.

1 furlong = 201.168 meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Furlong; Wikipedia: Chain (unit)

Related conversions

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