Kile (unit)

Short description: Ottoman unit of volume

The kile (Ottoman Turkish: كيله‎) was an Ottoman unit of volume similar to a bushel, like other dry measures also often defined as a specific weight of a particular commodity. Its value varied widely by location, period, and commodity, from 8 to 132 oka. The 'standard' kile was 36 litres or 20 oka.

References

• Diran Kélékian, Dictionnaire Turc-Français, Constantinople: Imprimerie Mihran, 1911.
• A.D. Alderson and Fahir İz, The Concise Oxford Turkish Dictionary, 1959.
• Halil İnalcık, Donald Quataert, An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914, Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN:0-521-57455-2. Has extensive tables of values of the kile at various times and places.