Furlong
/ˈfɜːr.lɒŋ/noun
A unit of distance equal to one-eighth of a mile, historically used in land measurement.
Did you know?Furlong comes from the Old English idea of how far an ox could plow in one uninterrupted furrow, so a modern race distance was born from agricultural labor, not athletics.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*furhō- / *furhuz
“furrow; trench made by plowing”
Old English
OE
furh
“furrow, trench in plowed ground”
Old English
OE
lang
“long”
Early Old English
OE
furh lang
“a furrow-length, the distance a plow could travel in one furrow”
Middle English
ME
furlong
“a measure of land length, later standardized as one-eighth of a mile”
Modern English
English
furlong
“a unit of distance equal to 220 yards”