The usual cup abbreviation is c., a lowercase c with a period, and you will also see a capital C with or without one. A recipe line like "2 c. flour" means two cups of flour. Because the word is so short, many cookbooks and food packages simply print "cup" or "cups" in full.
One cup in American cooking equals 8 fluid ounces, 16 tablespoons or about 237 milliliters. Knowing the abbreviation and that conversion covers most of what you need in the kitchen.
Quick facts
Abbreviation
c. or CAlso written
cup, cupsPeriod or no period
Both c. and c are commonPlural
Same as singular: 3 c.Equal to
8 fl oz, 16 tbsp, about 237 mLUsed in
Recipes, meal plans, nutrition labels, baby formula chartsNot to be confused with
c. for circa, C for Celsius
Every cup abbreviation in print
| Form | Where it shows up | Example |
|---|---|---|
| c. | Older cookbooks, recipe cards | 1 c. sugar |
| c | Modern recipe sites and printed handouts | 3/4 c milk |
| C or C. | Recipe cards, some cookbooks | 2 C rice |
| cup or cups | Most current cookbooks and packaging | 1 1/2 cups water |
All four mean the same thing. Choose a single style for the whole recipe, so readers are not left wondering whether c and C mean different units. For cups, they do not.
What is the abbreviation for cup when there are several?
Plurals keep the exact same short form. Write "3 c." for three cups, never "3 cs." or "3 c.s." Only the full word changes: one cup, two cups. Fractions sit in front of the abbreviation: "1/3 c. oil," "2 1/4 c. flour."
On a grandmother's recipe card: "Mix 2 c. oats, 1 C. brown sugar, 1/2 c. butter." The writer switched between c. and C. without meaning anything by it. Every measure here is cups.
How a cup converts to other kitchen measures
| Amount | Same as |
|---|---|
| 1 cup | 8 fluid ounces |
| 1 cup | 16 tablespoons |
| 1 cup | 48 teaspoons |
| 2 cups | 1 pint |
| 4 cups | 1 quart |
| 16 cups | 1 gallon |
| 1 cup | about 237 milliliters |
Related pages cover the smaller and larger units: the tablespoon abbreviation, the teaspoon abbreviation, the ounce abbreviation and the pint abbreviation.
Not every cup is the same size
The standard US cup is 8 fluid ounces, about 237 mL. A few other cups are close but not identical:
- Nutrition label cup: US food labels round a cup to 240 mL.
- Metric cup: recipes from Canada, Australia and other places often use 250 mL.
- Coffee mug or teacup: not a measuring cup at all. A mug can hold well over a cup.
For most home cooking, these small gaps do not ruin a dish. In baking, where ratios matter more, use the cup the recipe was written for, or weigh ingredients in grams if the recipe gives weights.
Look-alikes: c. for circa, C for Celsius
The letter c does a lot of work. In a history book, "c. 1850" uses c. for circa, meaning "around"; see the circa abbreviation page. In an oven chart, 180 C or 180°C means degrees Celsius. On a recipe line with a number and an ingredient, c. means cup.
The bigger danger in recipes is the T and t mix-up. A capital T often means tablespoon and a lowercase t means teaspoon. Cups do not follow that pattern, so capital C and lowercase c are the same measure.
Quick tips for writing cup in a recipe
- Use c. or cup, then stay consistent.
- Keep the number and the c. apart: 2 c, not 2c.
- Skip the s on c.; it never takes one.
- Spell out "cup" if your recipe also uses c. for anything else.
- For dry ingredients, level off the cup with a flat edge.
The common abbreviations section lists many more kitchen and office short forms.
Questions people ask
What is the abbreviation for cup in cooking?
The usual abbreviation is c. or C. Many recipes write "cup" in full because it is already short.
Is a capital C a cup or a tablespoon?
In recipes, capital C means cup. Tablespoon is usually T, Tbsp or tbsp, and teaspoon is t or tsp.
How do you abbreviate cups, plural?
Use the same short form: 2 c. or 2 C. Adding an s is not standard.
How many ounces are in a cup?
A US cup holds 8 fluid ounces. That is a measure of volume, not of weight.
Is a cup 250 mL or 240 mL?
A US kitchen cup is about 237 mL, nutrition labels use 240 mL and metric recipes use 250 mL. The difference rarely matters outside of baking.