Given an object that can hold a capacity of something, is there a word which describes the current amount it holds towards that capacity?
For example, if an elevator has a capacity of 20 persons, and the current number of occupants is six, the elevator's <some property of the elevator>
is six?
Update: The commentary on @jwpat7's excellent answer made me realize something which hadn't occurred to me: the nature of the container and the things it holds have an impact on the appropriate description. I picked an arbitrary example using people, but the reason I've been seeking this word is to describe discrete (i.e. not something like liquid in a tank) inanimate contents.
A better example would be: an egg carton has a capacity of 12 eggs. It currently holds 7. How does one describe the amount currently held: "The carton's <this>
is 7 eggs"?
Best Answer
Occupancy seems like the natural word for what you ask, per oxforddictionaries:
(Edit: The most applicable sense of it in wiktionary is
which is rather less satisfactory than the definition shown first.)
Here are some other possibilities: population, headcount, crowd size, census, number, complement, company, fraction. A rarely used term is filledness. Of all these, headcount perhaps fits best into your example, but others fit with minor rewording:
Comment: As the last of those examples illustrates, one doesn't need a special word (besides in) and you may need to revise your question if that being so is unacceptable for some reason.