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bbl

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bbl¹

Where it comes from

Often thought to be modified from bl for barrel (b⸺l), reflecting a way of abbreviating that was used especially in previous centuries (compare do for ditto), wherein a doubled letter indicated plural count, as also with p.=page but pp.=pages and l.=line but ll.=lines; this method was used not only in English but also in scholarly New Latin and other modern languages heavily affected thereby, such as with Spanish EE. UU. According to this idea, addition of the suffix -s, as sometimes seen (e.g., 5 bbls or 5 bbls.), would seem to have come from writers who left the unit abbreviation itself unanalyzed (unparsed), thus adding a venially redundant marker of plural, somewhat like with MPGs for miles per gallon.

Some sources claim that the abbreviation bbl is from Standard Oil's 42-gallon blue barrels. But this is contested: one source calls this a "persistent oilfield myth" and notes that "the abbreviation 'bbl' had been in use before the 1859 birth of the petroleum industry". Nonetheless, Standard Oil's blue barrels may have helped the bbl abbreviation stick.

noun bbl · bbls

  1. especially, in the 20th and 21st centuries Volumes of crude oil pumped, stored, or sold (in bulk). measured in 1000-bbl units
  2. especially, in previous centuries Barrels (casks) transported or sold, or the volume that they represent. 5 bbls. flour
  3. Venturis in carburetion. 1-bbl carburetor

    Similar: v, V

bbl²

phrase

  1. Internet, alternative Alternative form of BBL

BBL³

  • /biː biː ˈɛl/

phrase

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of be back later

noun BBLs

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of Brazilian butt lift The estimated death rate from fat embolism may be as high as one in 3,000 for BBLs. A 2015 study of deaths from BBL surgery concluded that they probably occur as a result of gluteal blood vessels becoming damaged during the procedure, allowing fat to enter the bloodstream.
  2. Alternative letter-case form of bbl (“barrels”)

proper noun

  1. UK, abbreviation, historical, initialism Initialism of British Basketball League
  2. abbreviation, historical, initialism Initialism of Bank Brussels Lambert, now part of the ING Group
  3. Australia, abbreviation, initialism Initialism of Big Bash League

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: barrel, keg, drum, cbar, abr., breviation, bros., abl., abbreve, bact., bbar, kbbq, lib., blvd., b.arch., abbrev.

Translations

Every language

noun abbreviation of "barrel"

Românăbaril

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Cite this
MLA

"bbl." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bbl. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

bbl. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bbl

Chicago

"bbl." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bbl.

BibTeX
@misc{bbl_2026,
  title = {bbl},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bbl},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}