The cord is a unit of measure of dry volume used to measure firewood and pulpwood in the United States and Canada.
A cord is the amount of wood that, when "racked and well stowed" (arranged so pieces are aligned, parallel, touching and compact), occupies a volume of 128 cubic feet (3.62 m3).[1] This corresponds to a well-stacked woodpile 4 feet (122 cm) high, 8 feet (244 cm) wide, and 4 feet (122 cm) deep; or any other arrangement of linear measurements that yields the same volume.
The name cord probably comes from the use of a cord or string to measure it.[2]
The cord-foot was a US unit of volume for stacked firewood, four feet long, four feet wide and one foot high—equal to one eighth of a cord.[3] The symbol for the unit was cd-ft.[4]