Cups to Milliliters
Convert cups (cup) to milliliters (mL). Both measure capacity and volume, and the conversion comes up in cooking, chemistry, fuel work.
The Formula
``
milliliters = cups × 236.5882365
cups = milliliters × 0.00422675283773
`
One cup is 236.5882 milliliters, and one milliliter is 0.004227 cups.
Conversion Table
| Cups | Milliliters |
|---|---|
| 1 cup | 236.5882 mL |
| 2 cup | 473.1765 mL |
| 5 cup | 1,182.94 mL |
| 10 cup | 2,365.88 mL |
| 25 cup | 5,914.71 mL |
| 50 cup | 11,829.41 mL |
| 100 cup | 23,658.82 mL |
| 500 cup | 118,294.12 mL |
| 1,000 cup | 236,588.24 mL |
The Other Direction
| Milliliters | Cups |
|---|---|
| 1 mL | 0.004227 cup |
| 2 mL | 0.008454 cup |
| 5 mL | 0.021134 cup |
| 10 mL | 0.042268 cup |
| 25 mL | 0.105669 cup |
| 50 mL | 0.211338 cup |
| 100 mL | 0.422675 cup |
| 500 mL | 2.1134 cup |
| 1,000 mL | 4.2268 cup |
What Each Unit Is
Cups (cup) — the US customary cup: exactly 240 millilitres in nutrition labelling, 236.588 mL legally. An American cooking measure standardised by Fannie Farmer in the 1890s.
Milliliters (mL) — one thousandth of a litre, equal to one cubic centimetre. The metric unit for small volumes; medicine and cooking both work in millilitres.
A Sense of Scale
A coffee mug holds about 1.5 cups- US recipes measure everything in cups
- A teaspoon is 5 mL
- An espresso is 30 mL
- A wine glass pour is 150 mL
Precision
The factor 236.5882365 is rounded. For engineering work carry more digits than the table above, and round only at the end — rounding at each step compounds.
Watch Out For
- A US cup is 237 mL, a metric cup 250 mL and a Japanese cup 200 mL. Baking by volume is why the same recipe fails in another country.
In Code
`javascript
const cupToMilliliter = (value) => value * 236.5882365;
``
Where This Conversion Comes Up
- Cooking
- Chemistry
- Fuel
- Beverages
- Medicine
How Many Decimals Do You Need?
Rounding the factor costs accuracy, and how much depends on the factor. Converting 137 cup with the factor truncated at each decimal place:
| Decimals kept | Factor | 137 cup becomes | Error |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 237 | 32,469 | 0.1740% |
| 1 | 236.6 | 32,414.2 | 0.0050% |
| 2 | 236.59 | 32,412.83 | 0.0007% |
| 3 | 236.588 | 32,412.56 | — |
| 4 | 236.5882 | 32,412.58 | — |
The right number of significant figures is set by your input, not by the converter. If you measured cups to three significant figures, the answer in milliliters is only good to three — writing more digits claims precision the measurement never had.