K

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

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Translingual

English Wikipedia has an article on:

K

Wikipedia

Letter

K (lower case k)

The eleventh letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Symbol

K

(chemistry) Symbol for potassium.
Symbol for kelvin, the SI unit of thermodynamic temperature. Specifically (U+212A version)
(biochemistry) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for lysine.
(geology) Symbol for hydraulic conductivity.
Thousand.
5k = 5,000
(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

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /keɪ/, [kʰeɪ]
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (UK) (file)
Rhymes: -eɪ

Letter

^{The template Template:en-letter does not use the parameter(s): lower=k
upper=K
Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.}

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

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).

Number

K (upper case, lower case k)

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)

(law, informal) Abbreviation of contract.
(education, US) Abbreviation of kindergarten.
"K-8" is Kindergarten through eighth grade.
(often computing) Abbreviation of kilo-, 1,024.
(computing) A single character message used as an acknowledgement (ACK), meaning "previous message received and understood."
(Morse code) Abbreviation of go ahead, over, an indication that a message is complete and a reply is awaited.
(baseball) Abbreviation of strikeout.
(card games, chess) Abbreviation of king.
(biology) Abbreviation of carrying capacity.
(slang) Short for OK.
(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.
(slang) Abbreviation of ketamine (a drug).
(music) Abbreviation of Köchel number.
Die Zauberflöte, K. 620
(UK, government) Abbreviation of Knighthood.
(economics) Abbreviation of capital.
(printing) Abbreviation of black.

Translations

playing card

French: R (fr) (roi)
Russian: К (ru) (K) (король)
(deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
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

Afar

Letter

K

The seventh letter in the Afar alphabet.

American Sign Language

Letter

(Stokoe K)

The letter K

Azerbaijani

Letter

K upper case (lower case k)

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

Chinese

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): kēi, kèi (kei¹, kei⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄎㄟ, ㄎㄟˋ

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

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) K

(deprecated template usage) Alternative form of 剋 (“to beat; to scold; to fight”).
Short for 卡拉OK (kǎlā'ōukèi, “karaoke”).
(Internet slang) Short for 擴／扩 (kuò, “to repost”).
(slang) Short for K粉 (kēifěn, “ketamine”).
thousand; kilo
(computing) kilobyte
karat

Dutch

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /kaː/
Audio (file)

Letter

K (capital, lowercase k)

The eleventh letter of the Dutch alphabet.

Esperanto

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

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

Conjunction

K

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

Estonian

Estonian Wikipedia has an article on:

K

Wikipedia ^et

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

The eleventh letter of the Estonian alphabet, called kaa and written in the Latin script.

Finnish

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

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

German

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kaː/
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -aː

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

The eleventh letter of the German alphabet.

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

the letter K

Hungarian

Etymology

Abbreviation of kelet (“east”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈkɛlɛt]

Noun

K

E (east)

Ido

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /k/

Letter

K (lower case k)

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

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

K

Wikipedia ^it

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)

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.

Latvian

Latvian Wikipedia has an article on:

K

Wikipedia ^lv

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 (upper case, lower case k)

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

Malay

Malay Wikipedia has an article on:

K

Wikipedia ^ms

Pronunciation

Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "Name of letter" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA^(key): [ke]
Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "Phoneme, Syllable initial" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA^(key): [k]
Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "Phoneme 1, Syllable final" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA^(key): [ʔ]
Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "Phoneme 2, Syllable final" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA^(key): [k̚]

Letter

K

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

Portuguese

Pronunciation

Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "BR" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA^(key): /ˈka/
Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "PT" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA^(key): /ˈka.pɐ/, /ˈka.pa/

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

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

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ka/

Letter

K (lowercase k)

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

Saanich

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /k̠ʼ/

Letter

K

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

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /k/

Letter

K (lower case k)

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

Slovene

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:

K

Wikipedia ^sl

Pronunciation

Letter

K (capital, lowercase k)

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

Somali

Pronunciation

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

Letter

K upper case (lower case k)

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

Usage notes

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

Spanish

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

The eleventh letter of the Spanish alphabet.

Turkish

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

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

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)

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

Etymology 2

From English K, from Kelvin

Noun

K

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

cancer

Zulu

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

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