calorie
/ˈkæləɹi/ noun
Forms calories calory
- noun (nutrition) A non-SI unit of energy, equivalent to 4.184 kilojoules, that can raise the temperature of a kilogram of water by one degree Celsius. This is the unit normally used in food labeling.
- noun (physical chemistry, physics) A non-SI unit of energy, equivalent to 4.184 joules, that can raise the temperature of a gram of water by one degree Celsius. This unit was formerly widely used in chemistry and physics.
- noun (case-sensitive) Synonym of kilocalorie (“large calorie”).
Synonyms
large calorie kilocalorie kilogram calorie small calorie gram calorie thermochemical calorie nutritionist's calorie
Etymology
Borrowed from French calorie, formed from Latin calor. It was originally defined as the large calorie in the early 19th century, with the small calorie being defined some decades later.
From calorie, with a case-sensitive orthographic convention applied to mark the distinction between a small calorie and a large calorie, which are different by a factor of 1000.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The unit of heat according to the Frensc standard; the amount of heat requires to raise the temperature of one kilogram (sometimes, one gram) of water one degree centigrade, or from 0Foot pound.
Etymology [F., fr. L. calor heat.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “calorie”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details