Cuadra (6400 metros)

Discussion in 'Spanish-English Vocabulary / Vocabulario Español-Inglés' started by flipphelp, Aug 19, 2008.

  1. flipphelp Member

    colombia, spanish/english
    Hi, in Colombia we use a meassurement for land in the country called cuadra which is 80 meters by 80 meters. Does anyone know an equivalent in English. I understand block only referes to those in cities and hectare or acre are not exactly the same. Thanks for the help.
     
  2. aurilla Senior Member

    Puerto Rico
    Am Eng/PR Spanish
    It seems there is no translation.

    cuadra: The distance from one street corner to the next, usually 100 metres (see also manzana).
     
  3. Amazonico

    Amazonico Member

    Toronto - Canada
    Español - Venezuela
    In English you can use BLOCK.

    Amazonico
     
  4. flipphelp Member

    colombia, spanish/english
    Thank you both, I think there is no equivalent either. I guess I'll just have to leave the spanish word and explain what it is.
     
  5. zumac Senior Member

    Mexico City
    USA: English & Spanish
    If you really want to express "cuadra" in English, why don't you convert the 6400 square meters to the equivalent square feet? Sorry, but I don't have my calculator handy.

    Saludos.
     
  6. Oldy Nuts

    Oldy Nuts Senior Member

    Santiago, Chile
    Spanish - Chile
    If my calculations are right, 80mx80m (one 80m cuadra squared) = 6400 square meters = approximately 68,900 square feet = approximately 70,000 square feet. And one 100m cuadra squared = 10,000 square meters = approximately 107,639 square feet = approximately 100,000 square feet.
     
  7. sergio11 Senior Member

    Los Angeles and Buenos Aires
    Spanish (lunfardo)
    Hola,

    In general, "cuadra" is a measure of length, not area. This usage in Colombia is very strange. I had never heard of a "cuadra" as a measure of area before. In the link, http://www.zoetecnocampo.com/foro/Forum36/HTML/000139.html, there is an explanation of this usage in Colombia.

    What I have always known was that "cuadra" was a measure of length, not very exactly defined, and variable from place to place. There are shorter "cuadras" and longer "cuadras". We are used to think of "cuadras" as 100 meters, but in reality it is 100 varas, not 100 meters. Thus, in Argentina a "cuadra" is officially considered to be 100 varas, or 129.9 meters, but the "cuadras" in which the cities are subdivided are very variable.

    In other parts of the Spanish speaking world, a "cuadra" may be a quarter of a mile (meaning #6 in DRAE).

    Saludos
     

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