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]

Character variations

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]

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Page categories

English Wikipedia has an article on:

K

Wikipedia

Etymology

From the Etruscan letter 𐌊 (k, “ka”), from the Ancient Greek letter Κ (K, “kappa”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤊 (k, “kap”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓂧.

Letter

K (lower case k)

The eleventh letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Symbol

K

(chemistry) Symbol for potassium (Latin kalium).
Symbol for kelvin, the SI unit of thermodynamic temperature.
(biochemistry) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for lysine.
(geology) Symbol for hydraulic conductivity.
Abbreviation of kilo (thousand).
5k = 5,000
(radio slang) over, waiting for reply
(linguistics) A wildcard for a velar consonant
(linguistics) A wildcard for a consonant (e.g. in German-language texts)

Usage notes

The Unicode Standard states that K (U+212A KELVIN SIGN) is included in Unicode only for backward compatibility reasons. To represent kelvin, K (U+004B LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K) is preferred.

Gallery

Letter styles
Uppercase and lowercase versions of K, in normal and italic type
Uppercase and lowercase K in Fraktur

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

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

Letter

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

Abbreviations.

(stenoscript) Abbreviation of counter, prefix counter-, sequence contr.

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-, 1,000 or 1,024.
5k = 5,000
(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. On a baseball scorecard, a frontwards K signifies striking out while swinging the bat, while a backwards K signifies striking out while looking.
(card games, chess) Abbreviation of king.
(biology) Abbreviation of carrying capacity.
(geology) Abbreviation of Cretaceous.
(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).
- 1978, John C. Lilly, “Seduction by K”, in The Scientist, Philadelphia: Lippincott, →ISBN, page 167:
  At high levels of concentration of K in the blood, the observer/operator is cut off from his interlock with e.r., including the human consensus reality.
(music) Abbreviation of Köchel number.
Die Zauberflöte, K. 620
(UK, government) Abbreviation of Knighthood.
(economics) Abbreviation of capital.
(printing) Abbreviation of black.
(slang, from Jamaican Creole) Abbreviation of Kalashnikov.
- 2011 August 16, “My People”‎performed by Kendrick Lamar,Jay Rock:
  We used to run from the KKK but now we running from our brothers that be holding them K's.
- 2018 October 16, “Demon Boy”, performed by Slowthai:
  Yeti in the Serengeti, believe the myth. K-man stupid, rub together sticks.
- 2019 November 22, “Payback” (track 11), in Netflix&Deal‎, performed by 03 Greedo, Kenny Beats, OhGeesy, and Judge:
  Keep the chopper, I'ma spray that. This is an AR, don't keep the K, man.
- 2021 November 19, “Pink 3 Remix”‎performed by PCAJAY:
  You come to my trap, bitch, you better knock. I keep a 'K and these bullets gon' flock.
- 2022 June 4, “OVO”‎performed by Big Yavo:
  A fuck nigga diss GG, he get hit with a K. I'll be back in the morning, just went to the A.
- 2022 September 25, “Dork”‎performed by Aeterluv:
  Bitch ass nigga get rocked. I walk in da trap with a Glock and a K in my sock. U fag ass nigga get popped. U a gay lil dumb ahh nigga came from TikTok. I'mma talk my shi won't stop. Bitch u all on my dick for a drop, nigga get off my cock.
Abbreviation of kritik.

Derived terms

(Cretaceous): KPg, KT
(ketamine): K-hole, Special K

Translations

playing card

Danish: K (da) (konge)
Dutch: H (nl) (heer)
Estonian: K (et) (kuningas)
French: R (fr) (roi)
German: K (de) (König)
Icelandic: K (köngur)
Polish: K (pl) (król)
Portuguese: R (pt) (rei)
Russian: К (ru) (K) (король)
Swedish: K (sv) (kung)

Etymology 3

Clipping of OK.

Interjection

K

(colloquial, text messaging, Internet slang) OK
Synonym: 'kay
- 2019, Justin Blackburn, The Bisexual Christian Suburban Failure Enlightening Bipolar Blues, page 23:
  K, dad, I'll go to my room.

Usage notes

"K" usually implies apathy or anger towards the statement it is responding to,^[1] in a more emphatic way than "k".

References

[1]
“Youthsplaining: You’ve Been Texting the Word “Okay” Wrong”, in Inside Hook, 2019 July 19

Letter

K

The seventh letter in the Afar alphabet.

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /kɑː/

Letter

K (upper case, lower case k)

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

Noun

K (plural K's, diminutive K'tjie)

K

Letter

K

The thirteenth letter of the Angami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Letter

K upper case (lower case k)

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ka/, [ka]