# Миля (abbreviation)



## Plus7

I need to translate something like 10mi (10 miles) and 10mi/h (10 miles per hour). 

I know that in Russian the word for "Mile" is "Миля", but is there a short form like "mi" that can be added after any number?


----------



## Maroseika

Abbreviated form is *м.*, e.g.: Скорость 112 м./ч
Note the dot after м, without the dot it will be meters: скорость 10 м/сек.
But anyway, this abbreviation will be hardly clear beyond the due context or without explanation.
For the nautical mile (морская миля) abbreviation is more clear: *м. миля*: Судно находилось на расстоянии 12 м. миль от берега.


----------



## Plus7

Thanks! This will be used in a weather website if the user chooses to use the "Imperial" units instead of metric. So it will be something like:

Visibility: 10mi
wind: 5mph

I am guessing nearly no Russians would choose the Imperial units, but I wanted to have it right anyway.


----------



## Rosett

Plus7 said:


> Thanks! This will be used in a weather website if the user chooses to use the "Imperial" units instead of metric. So it will be something like:
> 
> Visibility: 10mi
> wind: 5mph
> 
> I am guessing nearly no Russians would choose the Imperial units, but I wanted to have it right anyway.


Миля itself is a word short enough to be used as abbreviation. Hence, you can put "10 миль" or "5 миль/ч". The only problem is numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4, but for the purpose of your app you may ignore it outright.


----------



## Plus7

Yes, I knew that the cases of 1,2,3 and 4 differ, which is why I wanted an abbreviation that would be OK with all numbers. Why do you think I can I can ignore those cases? Wouldn't "4 миль" seem wrong in such an app?


----------



## Vovan

Plus7 said:


> I need to translate something like 10mi (10 miles) and 10mi/h (10 miles per hour).
> 
> I know that in Russian the word for "Mile" is "Миля", but is there a short form like "mi" that can be added after any number?


Not in normal language. Ordinary people wouldn't know what you meant if you used any abbreviation for "a mile". I suggest you don't abbreviate this word:
1 миля/ч
2 мили/ч
5 миль/ч
etc.


----------



## Maroseika

Plus7 said:


> This will be used in a weather website


By the way, what exactly mile is meant - statute or nautical? In the latter case good alternative may be the word *узел *(kn, knot - морская миля в час). This variant is encountered in some weather forecast sites (in addition to mph).
Abbreviation for узел is *уз* (without dot), but the column may be also titled like "Скорость ветра, узлы".
For statute miles, this also can be a better way than unwonted abbreviation: "Скорость ветра, мили/час".


----------



## Q-cumber

Anyway, when possible it's by all means recommended to convert all speed measurements into km/h.


----------



## Plus7

Thanks for your answers! The metric units are the default. This is only for the rare case that a user chooses Russian language and the Imperial units. In that case I am guessing the person would know what *м. *means. The average person will probably not understand that, but the average person will not choose Imperial units and probably wouldn't understand what "wind speed: 5mph / 5km/h / 5m/s" means anyways. Most people only look at the temperatures and weather conditions. 

P.S. I was thinking to use the Beaufort scale, which is a much easier to understand wind speed scale, but I don't think this scale is used globally. Is it used in Russia?


----------



## Maroseika

Plus7 said:


> P.S. I was thinking to use the Beaufort scale, which is a much easier to understand wind speed scale, but I don't think this scale is used globally. Is it used in Russia?


Yes, it is known - шкала Бофорта and баллы Бофорта. As far as I know it's designated in the international way - just bft (5 bft, 15 bft). But бфт is also encountered.


----------



## Rosett

Maroseika said:


> By the way, what exactly mile is meant - statute or nautical? In the latter case good alternative may be the word *узел *(kn, knot - морская миля в час). This variant is encountered in some weather forecast sites (in addition to mph).
> Abbreviation for узел is *уз* (without dot), but the column may be also titled like "Скорость ветра, узлы".
> For statute miles, this also can be a better way than unwonted abbreviation: "Скорость ветра, мили/час".


"mph" could be only statute miles per hour. This is a very common abbreviation, not to be confused with anything else.


----------



## Plus7

Rosett said:


> "mph" could be only statute miles per hour. This is a very common abbreviation, not to be confused with anything else.



Are you suggesting to use "mph" with Latin characters for the Russian version?


----------



## Rosett

Plus7 said:


> Are you suggesting to use "mph" with Latin characters for the Russian version?


Not at all. Beware: "МПХ", as it perceived in Russian by the native ear, belongs to an absolute no-go land, when we are talking standard Russian.


----------



## igusarov

Plus7 said:


> The average person will probably not understand that,


That's right. Miles are not used in everyday life here, so I dare say there's no commonly accepted (and commonly recognized) abbreviation.

A few facts from the official documents:
The federal standard on units says that _nautical_ mile should be called "*миля*", in full. See ГОСТ-8.417-2002, p.15.
Official test for pilots also uses full spelling "*узел*, узлов", for example this question.
Official aeronautical maps use "*м.миля*" and "*м.м*", for example see this map.
Some foreign-made aircraft operation manual keep the unit symbols untranslated: NM for nautical miles, KT for knots.


----------



## Konersio

Plus7 said:


> I need to translate something like 10mi (10 miles) and 10mi/h (10 miles per hour).
> 
> I know that in Russian the word for "Mile" is "Миля", but is there a short form like "mi" that can be added after any number?


РУССКИЕ СЛОВАРИ | Орфографический словарь (2-е издание) | Основные общепринятые графические сокращения - popular abbreviations here


----------



## trujamán+

Maroseika said:


> Abbreviated form is *м.*, e.g.: Скорость 112 м./ч


Зачем вводите иностранцев в заблуждение? 

In Russia we don’t use miles for measuring distances, so there’s no need to abbreviate it. I’ve never seen the example *112 м./ч.*


----------



## Maroseika

trujamán+ said:


> Зачем вводите иностранцев в заблуждение?
> 
> In Russia we don’t use miles for measuring distances, so there’s no need to abbreviate it.


Please kindly refer to ГОСТ 8.417-2002 already mentioned in the post # 13.


----------



## trujamán+

Maroseika said:


> Please kindly refer to ГОСТ 8.417-2002 already mentioned in the post # 13.



Could you give me an example of your usage from the news media? I’m sure you can’t.


----------



## Maroseika

trujamán+ said:


> Could you give me an example of your usage from the news media? I’m sure you can’t.


I'm afraid this request is beyond the scope of the thread. The question was how to abbreviate miles in Russian, and we have already provided the standard way to do that.
But I'm sure your opinion about the usage of this physical quantity in Russian is nothing if not useful for the topic starter.


----------

