Deciliter (dL)

Metric (SI)Current unit

One tenth of a liter (100 mL). Common in recipes in Scandinavia and Switzerland.

1 deciliter = 0.1 liters (exactly).

About the deciliter

Cookbooks and menus in Croatia, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries still measure with the deciliter, writing recipes in dL where an American cook would reach for a cup. A deciliter is one tenth of a liter, so it holds 100 cubic centimeters, or 100 milliliters, and it is a little under half of a US customary cup.

The prefix deci- means one tenth. In practice the unit suits a household portion between a spoon and a full liter. Ten deciliters make a liter, and ten centiliters make a deciliter, so conversion needs only a shifted decimal point. The figure used here is exactly 0.1 liter. For scale, five deciliters make half a liter, and one deciliter is 100 times a single milliliter.

Sources: Wikipedia: Litre; Wikipedia: Metric prefix

Deciliter conversion chart

1 deciliter expressed in every other volume unit:

More Metric (SI) units

• liter (volume)
• milliliter (volume)
• cubic meter (volume)
• cubic centimeter (volume)
• cubic millimeter (volume)
• microliter (volume)
• centiliter (volume)
• hectoliter (volume)
• meter (length)
• kilometer (length)
• centimeter (length)
• millimeter (length)
• micrometer (length)
• nanometer (length)
• picometer (length)
• decimeter (length)

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