Kip (unit)

"Kilopound" redirects here. Not to be confused with Kilopond.

A kip is a US customary unit of force. It equals 1000 pounds-force, and is used primarily by structural engineers to indicate forces where the value represented in pound-force is inefficient. Although uncommon, it is occasionally also considered a unit of mass, equal to 1000 pounds (i.e. one half of a short ton). Another use is as a unit of deadweight to compute shipping charges.

1 kip ≈ 4,448.222 N = 4.448222 kN^[1]

kip
Unit system	English Engineering Units, British Gravitational System
Unit of	Force
Symbol	kip
Conversions
1 kip in ...	... is equal to ...
SI units	4.44822 kN
English Engineering Units	1000 lbf

The name comes from combining the words kilo and pound; it is occasionally called a kilopound. Its symbol is kip, sometimes K (upper or lowercase), or less frequently, klb. When it is necessary to clearly distinguish it as a unit of force rather than mass, it is sometimes called the kip-force (symbol kipf or klbf).

The symbol kp usually stands for the kilopond, a unit of force, or kilogram-force, used primarily in Europe prior to the introduction of SI units.

The kip is also the name of a unit of mass equal to approximately 9.19 kilograms. This usage is obsolete, and was used in Malaysia.^[2][3]

See also

• Short ton-force

References

1. Van Valkenburg, Mac E. (2002). Reference Data for Engineers Radio, Electronics, Computers and Communications. p. 3-15. ISBN 9780750672917. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
2. kip at Sizes.com
3. Kelly, Patrick (1832). Oriental Metrology. London: Longman Rees Orme. p. 96.