Charka

Russian (Imperial)Historical unit (no longer in standard use)Approximate value

One hundredth of a vedro, about 123 mL. The traditional Russian shot of vodka.

1 charka = 0.1229941 liters (approximately).

Approximate value. Standards for the charka varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.

About the charka

Charka is a Russian word for a small drinking cup, and the Russian Wikipedia article says the word reached Russian from Turkish. Ornate silver and enamelled charkas for strong spirits were part of everyday Russian life in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the oldest example in the Kremlin Armory dates from 1515.

As a measure, the charka was one hundredth of a vedro, or 7.5 cubic inches, which comes to about 123 mL. It sat in a chain of small liquor measures: half a charka was a shkalik of about 61.5 mL, two charkas made a chetushka of about 246 mL, and ten made a kruzhka of about 1.23 L. The English Wikipedia table of Russian units uses these same fractions of the vedro.

Russia fixed these measures relative to English cubic inches under Peter the Great, so the charka is a precise figure on paper even if real cups varied. The metric system replaced it in the 1920s, yet the word survives as the normal Russian name for a shot glass, and a charka is still close to a double shot today.

Sources: Wikipedia: Obsolete Russian units of measurement; Russian Wikipedia: Чарка

Charka conversion chart

1 charka expressed in every other volume unit:

More Russian (Imperial) units

• shtof (volume)
• vedro (volume)
• vershok (length)
• arshin (length)
• sazhen (length)
• verst (length)
• zolotnik (weight & mass)
• funt (Russian pound) (weight & mass)
• pood (weight & mass)

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