Jigger

Cooking & barTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

1.5 US fluid ounces (44.36 mL). A bar measure for spirits; sizes vary.

1 jigger = 0.04436029434 liters (approximately).

About the jigger

As a bartending term, jigger appeared in the United States in the early nineteenth century for a small measure of spirits or wine. A double-ended stainless steel jigger was patented in 1893 by Cornelius Dungan of Chicago. Wikipedia reports that before Prohibition an American jigger was about 2 US fluid ounces, or 59 mL, and that since the late twentieth century it has usually meant 1.5 US fluid ounces, about 44 mL.

Sizes differ by country and by habit. Wikipedia gives single measures of 30 to 44 mL in the United States, 30 mL in Australia, and 25 or 35 mL in the United Kingdom. No official single-shot size exists in the United States except in Utah, where a shot is legally 1.5 US fluid ounces. The figure used here is that modern American 1.5 US fluid ounces, 44.36 mL. A jigger is not part of SI or any national measures law, and NIST lists no jigger.

Sources: Wikipedia: Jigger (bartending); NIST SP 811 Appendix B.8

Jigger conversion chart

1 jigger expressed in every other volume unit:

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