K

See also: k and Appendix:Variations of "k"

K U+004B, K LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K ← J [U+004A] Basic Latin L → [U+004C]

K U+212A, K KELVIN SIGN ← ℩ [U+2129] Letterlike Symbols Å → [U+212B]

Ｋ U+FF2B, Ｋ FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K ← Ｊ [U+FF2A] Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms Ｌ → [U+FF2C]

Translingual

Letter

K (lower case k)

1. The eleventh letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

See also

• (Latin script):  Aa  Bb  Cc  Dd  Ee  Ff  Gg  Hh  Ii  Jj  Kk  Ll  Mm  Nn  Oo  Pp  Qq  Rr  Sſs  Tt  Uu  Vv  Ww  Xx  Yy  Zz
• (Variations of letter K):  Ḱḱ  Ǩǩ  Ķķ  Ḳḳ  Ḵḵ  Ƙƙ  Ⱪⱪ  ᶄᶄ  Ꝁꝁ  ᴋ  Ｋｋ

Symbol

K

1. (chemistry) Symbol for potassium.
2. Symbol for kelvin, the SI unit of thermodynamic temperature. Specifically (U+212A version)
3. (biochemistry) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for lysine.
4. (geology) Symbol for hydraulic conductivity.
5. Thousand.

   5k = 5,000

6. (radio slang) over, waiting for reply

Gallery

• Letter styles
• 

  Capital and lowercase versions of K, in normal and italic type

• 

  Uppercase and lowercase K in Fraktur

See also

Other representations of K:

NATO phonetic: Kilo Morse code: –·– Braille: ⠅ ASL Manual: K

Signal flag:

Semaphore:

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English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /keɪ/, [kʰeɪ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k, plural Ks or K's)

1. The eleventh letter of the English alphabet, called kay and written in the Latin script.
   • 1876, "C" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. IV, p. 616:

     The symbol K, however, was not entirely lost; it is found irregularly in inscriptions of all dates down to the times of the empire, and regularly as an initial abbreviation of Kalendæ, Karthago, Kæso (the proper name).

See also

• (Latin-script letters) letter; A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z

Number

K (upper case, lower case k)

1. The ordinal number eleventh, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called kay and written in the Latin script.

Etymology 2

Noun

K (plural Ks)

1. (law, informal) Abbreviation of contract.
2. (education, US) Abbreviation of kindergarten.

   "K-8" is Kindergarten through eighth grade.

3. (often computing) Abbreviation of kilo-, 1,024.
4. (computing) A single character message used as an acknowledgement (ACK), meaning "previous message received and understood."
5. (Morse code) Abbreviation of go ahead, over, an indication that a message is complete and a reply is awaited.
6. (baseball) Abbreviation of strikeout.
7. (card games, chess) Abbreviation of king.
8. (biology) Abbreviation of carrying capacity.
9. (slang) Short for OK.
10. (knitting) Abbreviation of knit.
    • 1855, Godey's Magazine (volume 51, page 71)

      Knit 3, p 1, k 2, purl 1, k 2, m 1, k 2 together, k 1.

11. (slang) Abbreviation of ketamine (a drug).
12. (music) Abbreviation of Köchel number.

    Die Zauberflöte, K. 620

13. (Britain, government) Abbreviation of Knighthood.
14. (economics) Abbreviation of capital.
15. (printing) Abbreviation of black.

Translations

playing card

• French: R (fr) (roi)
• Russian: К (ru) (K) (король)

• Swedish: K (sv) (kung)

Usage notes

On a baseball scorecard, a frontwards K signifies striking out while swinging the bat, while a backwards K signifies striking out while looking.

Derived terms

• (ketamine): K-hole, Special K

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Afar

Letter

K

1. The seventh letter in the Afar alphabet.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) A a, B b, T t, S s, E e, C c, K k, X x, I i, D d, Q q, R r, F f, G g, O o, L l, M m, N n, U u, W w, H h, Y y

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American Sign Language

Letter

(transliteration needed) (Stokoe K)

1. The letter K

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Azerbaijani

Letter

K upper case (lower case k)

1. The sixteenth letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) hərf; A a, B b, C c, Ç ç, D d, E e, Ə ə, F f, G g, Ğ ğ, H h, X x, I ı, İ i, J j, K k, Q q, L l, M m, N n, O o, Ö ö, P p, R r, S s, Ş ş, T t, U u, Ü ü, V v, Y y, Z z

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Chinese

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): kēi, kèi (kei¹, kei⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄟ, ㄎㄟˋ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: kēi
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄟ
    • Wade–Giles: kʻei¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kei
    • Tongyong Pinyin: kei
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰeɪ̯⁵⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: kèi
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄟˋ
    • Wade–Giles: kʻei⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: key
    • Tongyong Pinyin: kèi
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰeɪ̯⁵¹/

Definitions

K

1. Alternative form of 剋 (“to beat; to scold; to fight”).
2. Short for 卡拉OK (kǎlā'ōukèi, “karaoke”).
3. (Internet slang) Short for 擴／扩 (kuò, “to repost”).
4. (slang) Short for K粉 (kēifěn, “ketamine”).
5. thousand; kilo
6. (computing) kilobyte
7. karat

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /ka/

• Audio

  (file)

Letter

K (capital, lowercase k)

1. The eleventh letter of the Dutch alphabet.

See also

• Previous letter: J
• Next letter: L

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Esperanto

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

1. The fifteenth letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called ko and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) litero; A a, B b, C c, Ĉ ĉ, D d, E e, F f, G g, Ĝ ĝ, H h, Ĥ ĥ, I i, J j, Ĵ ĵ, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, R r, S s, Ŝ ŝ, T t, U u, Ŭ ŭ, V v, Z z

Conjunction

K

1. (text messaging) Abbreviation of kaj (“and”).

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Finnish

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

1. The eleventh letter of the Finnish alphabet, called koo and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) kirjain; A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s (Š š), T t, U u, V v (W w), X x, Y y, Z z (Ž ž), Å å, Ä ä, Ö ö

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aː

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

1. The eleventh letter of the German alphabet.

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German Sign Language

Etymology

Related to the French Sign Language sign for "K".

Production

This one-handed GSL sign is produced as follows:

• Posture the dominant hand in the “K” shape.

Letter

(transliteration needed)

1. the letter K

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Hungarian

Compass rose

Etymology

Abbreviation of kelet (“east”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkɛlɛt]

Noun

K

1. E (east)

See also

• észak (É), dél (D), kelet, nyugat (Ny)

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Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k/

Letter

K (lower case k)

1. The eleventh letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) litero; A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z

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Italian

Pronunciation

• (name of letter) IPA^(key): /ˈkaˌpːa/
• (phonetic realization) IPA^(key): [k~kʰ] (aspirated by some speakers to distinguish between c and k pronunciations)

Letter

K m or f (invariable, lower case k)

1. The eleventh letter of the Latin alphabet, called cappa or kappa in Italian.

Usage notes

• The letter K is not considered part of the Italian alphabet and is found only in loanwords.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) lettera; A a (À à), B b, C c, D d, E e (É é, È è), F f, G g, H h, I i (Í í, Ì ì, Πî, J j, K k), L l, M m, N n, O o (Ó ó, Ò ò), P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u (Ú ú, Ù ù), V v (W w, X x, Y y), Z z
• Italian alphabet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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Latvian

Etymology

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [k]

(file)

Letter

K

K (upper case, lower case k)

1. The sixteenth letter of the Latvian alphabet, called kā and written in the Latin script.

See also

• Letters of the Latvian alphabet:

  burti: Aa, Āā, Bb, Cc, Čč, Dd, Ee, Ēē, Ff, Gg, Ģģ, Hh, Ii, Īī, Jj, Kk, Ķķ, Ll, Ļļ, Mm, Nn, Ņņ, Oo, Pp, Rr, Ss, Šš, Tt, Uu, Ūū, Vv, Zz, Žž

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Malay

Pronunciation

• (Name of letter) IPA^(key): [ke]
• (Phoneme, Syllable initial) IPA^(key): [k]
• (Phoneme 1, Syllable final) IPA^(key): [ʔ]
• (Phoneme 2, Syllable final) IPA^(key): [k̚]

Letter

K

1. The eleventh letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈka/
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈka.pɐ/, /ˈka.pa/

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

1. The eleventh letter of the Portuguese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) letra; A a (Á á, À à,  â, àã), B b, C c (Ç ç), D d, E e (É é, Ê ê), F f, G g, H h, I i (Í í), J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o (Ó ó, Ô ô, Õ õ), P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u (Ú ú), V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka/

Letter

K (lowercase k)

1. The fourteenth letter of the Romanian alphabet, mostly used in foreign words to represent the phoneme /k/. Preceded by J and followed by L.

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Saanich

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k̠ʼ/

Letter

K

1. The fourteenth letter of the Saanich alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) A, Á, Ⱥ, B, C, Ć, Ȼ, D, E, H, I, Í, J, K, Ꝁ, Ꝃ, ₭, Ḵ, Ḱ, L, Ƚ, M, N, Ṉ, O, P, Q, S, Ś, T, Ⱦ, Ṯ, Ŧ, U, W, W̲, X, X̲, Y, Z, s, ,

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Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /k/

Letter

K (lower case k)

1. The eighteenth letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) bukva; A a,  â, B b, C c, Č č, Ʒ ʒ, Ǯ ǯ, D d, Đ đ, E e, F f, G g, Ǧ ǧ, Ǥ ǥ, H h, I i, J j, K k, Ǩ ǩ, L l, M m, N n, Ŋ ŋ, O o, Õ õ, P p, R r, S s, Š š, T t, U u, V v, Z z, Ž ž, Å å, Ä ä, ʹ

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Slovene

Pronunciation

Letter

K (capital, lowercase k)

1. The 12th letter of the Slovene alphabet. Preceded by J and followed by L.

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Somali

Pronunciation

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /k/
• (letter name): IPA^(key): /kæːf/

Letter

K upper case (lower case k)

1. The sixteenth letter of the Somali alphabet, called kaaf and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

1. The sixteenth letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by Q and followed by L.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) ', B b, T t, J j, X x, Kh kh, D d, R r, S s, Sh sh, Dh dh, C c, G g, F f, Q q, K k, L l, M m, N n, W w, H h, Y y, A a, E e, I i, O o, U u

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Spanish

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

1. The eleventh letter of the Spanish alphabet.

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Turkish

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

1. The fourteenth letter of the Turkish alphabet, called ke and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) harf; A a, B b, C c, Ç ç, D d, E e, F f, G g, Ğ ğ, H h, I ı, İ i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, Ö ö, P p, R r, S s, Ş ş, T t, U u, Ü ü, V v, Y y, Z z

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Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kaː˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kaː˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [kaː˧˧]
• Phonetic: ca

Etymology 1

From Portuguese K or French K

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

1. The thirteenth letter of the Vietnamese alphabet, called ca and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Quốc ngữ letters) chữ cái; A a (À à, Ả ả, àã, Á á, Ạ ạ), Ă ă (Ằ ằ, Ẳ ẳ, Ẵ ẵ, Ắ ắ, Ặ ặ),  â (Ầ ầ, Ẩ ẩ, Ẫ ẫ, Ấ ấ, Ậ ậ), B b, C c (Ch ch), D d, Đ đ, E e (È è, Ẻ ẻ, Ẽ ẽ, É é, Ẹ ẹ), Ê ê (Ề ề, Ể ể, Ễ ễ, Ế ế, Ệ ệ), G g (Gh gh, Gi gi), H h, I i (Ì ì, Ỉ ỉ, Ĩ ĩ, Í í, Ị ị), K k (Kh kh), L l, M m, N n (Ng ng, Ngh ngh, Nh nh), O o (Ò ò, Ỏ ỏ, Õ õ, Ó ó, Ọ ọ), Ô ô (Ồ ồ, Ổ ổ, Ỗ ỗ, Ố ố, Ộ ộ), Ơ ơ (Ờ ờ, Ở ở, Ỡ ỡ, Ớ ớ, Ợ ợ), P p (Ph ph), Q q (Qu qu), R r, S s, T t (Th th, Tr tr), U u (Ù ù, Ủ ủ, Ũ ũ, Ú ú, Ụ ụ), Ư ư (Ừ ừ, Ử ử, Ữ ữ, Ứ ứ, Ự ự), V v, X x, Y y (Ỳ ỳ, Ỷ ỷ, Ỹ ỹ, Ý ý, Ỵ ỵ)

Etymology 2

From English K, from Kelvin

Noun

K

1. K (Kelvin)

Usage notes

• Colloquially, even physics and chemistry teachers say "độ K" instead of just "K", despite the fact that there is no độ (“degree”) here like độ C (“degree Celsius”) or độ F (“degree Fahrenheit”).

Etymology 3

Noun

K

1. cancer

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Zulu

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

1. The eleventh letter of the Zulu alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z