Miles to Furlongs (mi to fur)

1 mile equals 8 furlongs exactly.

1 mile = 8 furlongs

How to convert miles to furlongs

To convert miles to furlongs, multiply the number of miles by 8. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply furlongs by 0.125.

furlongs = miles × 8

Example: 10 miles = 80 furlongs.

About these units

Mile (mi)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

5,280 feet or 1,760 yards, exactly 1,609.344 meters. This is the statute (international) mile used on US and UK roads.

A thousand paces gave the mile its name. It descends from the Latin mille passus, the Roman mile, by way of Old English mil and Middle English myle. For centuries after Rome, miles of many lengths coexisted; a sixteenth-century Mercator map, for example, shows small, medium and large Flemish miles on a single scale bar. The English statute mile was fixed by an Act of Parliament under Elizabeth I in 1593, which declared that a mile contains eight furlongs, or 5,280 feet.

The 1959 international yard and pound agreement made that mile exactly 1,609.344 meters. A slightly longer US survey mile, about 1,609.347 meters, lingered in American land surveys and was slated for retirement from 1 January 2023. Today the mile is the road unit of the United Kingdom, the United States, Liberia and Myanmar, along with several territories such as the Bahamas, Belize, Guam and the US Virgin Islands. In Canada it survives chiefly in rail transport and horse racing.

1 mile = 1,609.344 meters (exactly).

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

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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