Crochet terminology converter

Crochet has three parallel naming systems and they do not agree. Pick a direction.

• US → UK terms
• UK → US terms
• US → Japanese terms
• Japanese → US terms
• UK → Japanese terms
• Japanese → UK terms

Why they differ

US names count the stitch by how it was historically described; UK names count the number of loops cleared. The result is a one-step offset: nearly every UK name is one size taller than the US name that spells the same. Japanese naming describes the stitch physically — short, medium-long, long, very long — which is arguably the clearest of the three, and Japanese patterns pair it with a symbol chart so the name matters less.

Last updated 2026-08-30.