Did you know?
Furlong Has Old English Roots
Furlong is an English original that can be traced back to Old English furlang, a combination of the noun furh (“furrow”) and the adjective lang (“long”). Though now standardized as a length of 220 yards (or 1/8th of a mile), the furlong was originally defined less precisely as the length of a furrow—a trench in the earth made by a plow—in a cultivated field. This length was equal to the long side of an acre—an area originally defined as the amount of arable land that could be plowed by a yoke of oxen in a day, but later standardized as an area measuring 220 yards (one furlong) by 22 yards, and now defined as any area measuring 4,840 square yards. In contemporary usage, furlong is often encountered in references to horse racing.
Examples of furlong in a Sentence
Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 1 May 2026
Distance, traditionally measured in furlongs, also matters.
—Neil Greenberg, New York Times, 1 May 2026
Julia’s Warrior won a six-furlong race in November, 2024.
—Patrick Radden Keefe, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026
Owners and trainers spend years pursuing a dream that is decided in just 10 furlongs, or 1.25 miles.
—Karla Walsh, Travel + Leisure, 1 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for furlong
Cite this Entry
“Furlong.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/furlong. Accessed 14 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
furlong
noun
