What does "firkin" mean?

A varying measure of capacity, usually being a quarter of a barrel; specifically, a measure equal to nine imperial gallons.

Firkin

//ˈfɝkɪn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A varying measure of capacity, usually being a quarter of a barrel; specifically, a measure equal to nine imperial gallons. British
"23 Hen. VIII, cap. 4... The barrel of beer is to hold 36 gallons, the kilderkin 18 gallons the firkin 9. But the barrel, kilderkin, and firkin of ale are to contain 32, 16, and 8 gallons."
2
a small wooden keg wordnet
3
A small wooden vessel or cask of indeterminate size, used for butter, lard, etc. US
4
a British unit of capacity equal to 9 imperial gallons wordnet
5
A measurement for the mass of butter, equalling 56 pounds.

"I had in my cellar a firkin of potatoes."

From Middle Dutch *vierdekijn, diminutive of vierde (“fourth”), from vier (“four”); equivalent to fourth + -kin.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.