GBC
Length/Distance

Barleycorn

Modern equivalent

1/3 inch = 8.47 millimetres

Standardised in 1324 by King Edward II as the length of three dry grains of barley laid end to end.

The barleycorn is one of the oldest foundational units of English length. While largely vanished from general architecture, its legacy survives directly in modern British and American shoe sizing scales.

In the language

Won't budge an inch

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