UK Cup Sizes in Order

The full UK cup ladder

US and EU labels above an F vary between brands, so treat those two columns as the most common pattern. The international chart has more on each system.

How the pattern works

The sequence looks irregular until you see the rule. From D onwards, most letters appear twice: once single, then doubled.

• D, DD
• E
• F, FF
• G, GG
• H, HH
• J, JJ
• K, KK

Two things break the pattern. There is no EE in standard UK sizing, so E is followed directly by F. And there is no I, so HH is followed by J.

A double letter is a whole size. It is not a half step. The jump from F to FF is exactly as big as the jump from E to F: one inch of bust measurement, one cup.

The places people go wrong

DD and E

Because E is a single letter and DD a double, many people assume DD is the larger. It is the other way round: E is one size bigger. We answer this on its own page, is DD bigger than E?

Skipping the doubles

If a 34F is too small, the next size to try is 34FF. Going straight to 34G skips a size and will probably be too big.

Reading a US size as a UK one

American sizing has no double letters past DD, so its letters run ahead of the UK's. A US G is a UK F. A UK G is a US I. Always check which system a label uses. The comparison is in UK vs US bra sizes.

What a cup letter measures

A cup letter records one thing: how many inches bigger your bust is than your band size. A one-inch difference is an A, two inches a B, three a C, and so on up the ladder.

That makes the letter meaningless without the band. A D cup is a four-inch difference whether the band is a 28 or a 40, but the cup on the 40 band is far larger in volume. This is why you cannot compare busts by letter alone, and why a 30F and a 36D, which sound very different, hold the same amount.

Sizes that share a volume like this are called sister sizes. The sister size chart shows every family, and the UK bra size chart shows the bust measurement behind each size.

Which letters are "small", "average" or "large"?

There is no official line, and the letter on its own cannot tell you. A few facts help put the letters in proportion:

• D is the fifth cup on a ladder of seventeen. It sits well inside the lower half.
• In a University of Portsmouth fitting study of 45 women, the most common self-reported size was 34DD.
• Sizing methods that add inches to the band push people into smaller cup letters than they measure, which is a large part of why D and above came to be seen as unusually big.

The practical point is to ignore what a letter is supposed to mean and choose the cup that contains you. The guides to individual cups, starting with the D cup, the E cup and the F cup, go into detail, along with AA, A, B and C, FF, G and GG and above. If you have seen DDD on a label, read is DDD the same as F?

Where each part of the ladder is sold

As a broad guide, and with individual retailers varying: AA to DD cups are stocked almost everywhere. E to G cups are carried by the larger high-street chains in many styles, though not all. GG and above is mostly the territory of full-bust brands and specialist retailers. Always check the size range on the product page, as it differs from style to style within the same shop.

Frequently asked questions

What comes after a DD cup in the UK?

E. The UK order around that point is D, DD, E, F, FF, G. DD is a full size in its own right, one inch bigger than a D and one inch smaller than an E.

Why is there no I cup in UK sizing?

UK sizing goes from HH to J. The letter I is generally skipped, most likely because it is easily mistaken for the number 1 on a label. Some European and American brands do use it.

Is there a DDD cup in the UK?

No. DDD is American. The size a US brand calls DDD is an E in UK sizing.

What is the biggest UK cup size?

Ranges from UK full-bust specialists commonly run to K or KK, and a few go further. High-street ranges usually stop well before that. The sizing system itself has no fixed upper limit.