British and metric spelling variant of deciliter; a unit of volume equal to one-tenth of a liter.
From French 'déci-' plus 'litre,' using the British/French spelling preference for '-tre' instead of the American '-ter.' Both variants emerged from the metric system's spread in the late 1700s.
The 'litre' vs 'liter' spelling split mirrors the 'honour' vs 'honor' divide between British and American English—and it reveals how different countries adopted French metric standards at different times and with different spellings.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.