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Science & Nature
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Beyond Grammar: The Surprising Secret of the Word 'Are'
The word 'are' is not just a common verb. It's a metric unit of area, equal to 100 square meters or 1/100th of a hectare. While obscure to most English speakers, it's still used in real estate and land measurement in various countries across Europe and Asia.
More Than Just a Verb
You use it every day. "How are you?" "They are here." "We are learning something new." The word "are" is one of the most fundamental verbs in the English language, a cornerstone of countless conversations. But what if I told you it has a second, entirely separate identity? What if "are" wasn't just a state of being, but a state of measurement? Prepare to have your linguistic reality tilted, because an "are" is a specific, metric unit of area.
What Exactly *Is* an Are?
An are (pronounced /ɑːr/ or /ɛər/) is a unit of area equal to 100 square metres. The easiest way to visualize it is a perfect square with sides of 10 meters each. While this unit might be completely new to many, its famous sibling is not: the hectare. A hectare, commonly used for measuring large plots of land like farms and parks, is simply 100 ares. Think of the are as the "cent" to the hectare's "dollar." It's the building block of a much larger, more familiar unit.
The are was first established in 1795 as part of the original French metric system. Its name derives from the Latin word ārea, which means an "open space" or "threshing floor." While it is no longer an official SI unit, the International System of Units recognizes it for use alongside modern units due to its widespread historical and practical application.
A Unit Hiding in Plain Sight
If the are is a legitimate unit, why have so many people, especially in the English-speaking world, never heard of it? The answer lies in regional customs and the dominance of other units. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the acre has remained the customary unit for land measurement. However, the are is far from obsolete. In an online discussion about this very topic, one person noted:
In my country, it's completely normal to say your garden is 2 ares large. Nobody would use square meters for that, and a hectare is way too big.
This highlights its perfect niche. The are is commonly used for real estate and land registry purposes across Europe and Asia. In countries like France, Poland, Slovakia, the Netherlands, India, and Indonesia, the are serves as a practical measure for property plots, gardens, and small parcels of land that are too cumbersome to measure in square meters but too small to be described in hectares.
The Takeaway
The humble word "are" is a perfect example of how language and measurement can carry hidden histories. It’s a relic of the metric system's birth that has survived and thrived in specific contexts around the world, completely unbeknownst to millions of others. So the next time you use the verb, take a moment to appreciate its secret identity: a tidy 10-by-10 meter square, quietly measuring out gardens and properties across the globe.