Are (a)
The are is 100 square meters, the area of a square with sides of ten meters. It is the original metric unit of land area, predating the hectare, and it lives on in European property descriptions even though it rarely appears in English-speaking countries. In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, residential building plots are routinely described in ares, often written as the abbreviation a. A typical suburban house plot might be 5 to 10 ares, a generous garden 2 to 3 ares. The are is too small for farming but too large for rooms, which places it perfectly in the world of residential real estate and garden planning. The hectare, its more famous relative, is simply 100 ares.
Definition
One are is exactly 100 square meters, 0.01 hectares, or 0.0001 square kilometers. It equals the area of a square with sides of exactly 10 meters. In imperial terms, one are equals approximately 1076.39 square feet, 119.599 square yards, or about 0.02471 acres.
History
The are was introduced in France in 1795 as part of the original metric system. It was defined as the area of a square with sides of ten meters, giving it exactly 100 square meters. The name comes from the Latin area, meaning a level piece of ground. For a time the are was the fundamental metric unit of land measurement, but the hectare, equal to 100 ares, quickly proved more practical for agriculture and large-scale land use. In France the are fell out of common use by the twentieth century, replaced by the hectare for farms and the square meter for buildings. In the German-speaking world, however, the are remained popular for residential property and is still widely used today. German real estate listings, land registry entries, and building permits routinely specify plot sizes in ares. The unit was never adopted into the SI system but is accepted for use alongside it.
Common Uses
German-language real estate is the primary domain. Property listings in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland routinely describe residential plots in ares. A typical building plot for a single-family home in Germany is 4 to 8 ares. Garden allotments in German cities, known as Schrebergärten, are typically 2 to 4 ares. Land registry offices in German-speaking countries record parcel sizes in square meters and ares. The unit also appears in some Eastern European and Central Asian countries for residential and small agricultural plots.
Did You Know? Facts About Are
- A tennis court has an area of about 2.6 ares for a singles court and 2.9 ares for doubles, making the are a convenient unit for describing sports surfaces.
- The average Schrebergarten allotment in Germany is about 3 to 4 ares, large enough for vegetable beds, fruit trees, a small lawn, and a garden shed.
- The are is one of the few metric units that is more common in German than in English. Most English speakers have never heard of it, while most German speakers use it regularly.
- Despite being part of the metric system since 1795, the are has never been formally adopted into the SI. It remains a non-SI unit accepted for use with the SI, the same status as the hectare and the liter.
- The word acre and the word are both derive from Latin words related to open land, but they describe very different sizes: an acre is about 40.47 ares.