K

• For the Arthurian character named Kay, see Sir Kay.

Latin alphabet Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz

The eleventh letter of the Latin alphabet, K, or k comes from the Greek Κ or κ (Kappa) developed from the Semitic Kap, symbol for an open hand. The Semitic soundish value /k/ was maintained in most Classic as well as Modern Languages, although Latin abandoned K almost completely, preferring C. Therefore, the Romance languages have K only in foreign words. Its name in English is kay.

In the International phonetic alphabet, [k] is the symbol for the voiceless velar plosive.

Alternative representations

Kilo represents the letter K in the NATO phonetic alphabet.

In international Morse code the letter K is DahDitDah: - · -

In Braille the letter K is represented as ⠅ (in Unicode), the dot pattern,

X.
..
X.

Computing

In Unicode the capital K is codepoint U+004B and the lowercase k is U+006B.

The ASCII code for capital K is 75 and for lowercase k is 107; or in binary 01001011 and 01101011, correspondingly.

The EBCDIC code for capital K is 210, and for lowercase k, 146.

The numeric character references in HTML and XML are "K" and "k" for upper and lower case respectively.

Meanings for K

• In accounting and investment banking, K = 1000 (similar to the use in the SI system below).
• In baseball, K is the abbreviation for strikeout.
• In biochemistry, K is the symbol for the amino acid lysine.
• In Boolean algebra, a K-map is an abbreviation for a Karnaugh map.
• In chemistry,
  • K is the symbol for potassium (from its Latin name kalium).
  • K is the symbol for the equilibrium constant.
  • k is the symbol for the reaction rate constant.
• In chess, K is a notation symbol for the king piece.
• In the CMYK color model, K stands for the color black.
• In commerce, a circled K, Ⓚ, on a food product indicates kosher certification.
• In combinatory logic of computer science, K is the name of a fundamental combinator, the constant function.
• In computing,
  • K is a binary prefix meaning 2¹⁰ = 1,024 (compare with use as a prefix in the SI system below).
  • K is an obsolete abbreviation for kilobyte (now kB or KB)
  • K also refers to the K programming language.
• In economics, K is the abbreviation for capital.
• In engineering, K is an abbreviation denoting a kip (1k = 1000 pound force).
• In English slang, K is an abbreviation for ketamine.
• In finance, K is the New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol for the Kellogg Company.
• In Hong Kong slang, K is the abbreviation for karaoke.
• In gold, K is the abbreviation for karat (in the American spelling).
• In international license plate codes, K stands for Cambodia.
• In internet slang, K stands for okay.
• In law, K is a common abbreviation for contract.
• In library science, K is the Library of Congress classification designation for books about law.
• In logic, K is the simplest system of modal logic (K stands for "Kripke").
• In mathematics, K_n denotes the complete graph on n vertices.
• In music, K. numbers identify the compositions of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the catalog compiled by Ludwig von Köchel (sometimes abbreviated K.V., standing for Köchel-Verzeichnis). K. numbers are also used to identify the compositions of Domenico Scarlatti in the catalog compiled by Ralph Kirkpatrick. K is also an album by Kula Shaker.
• In nutrition, K is a vitamin which is essential in blood coagulation (or, as it is known in German, koagulation, thus the name).
• In physics,
  • k is the symbol for the Boltzmann constant.
  • k is the symbol for the spring constant in Hooke's law.
  • k is the symbol for Wavenumber.
• In a deck of playing cards, the letter K is used to mark each of the kings.
• In politics, K refers to the Keskustapuolue (Centre Party of Finland).
• K can be short for the record label K Records.
• As the first letter of a postal code,
  • In Canada, K stands for Eastern Ontario.
• In radio communication
  • K is one of the ITU prefixes allocated to the United States. K is generally used as the first letter of callsigns allocated to broadcast television or radio stations west of the Mississippi river.
  • As a procedural signal, K means "go ahead" or "over".
• In semiconductors, electronics, and physics, it is the symbol for the dielectric constant. See Low-K.
• In the SI system (the metric system),
  • k is an SI prefix denoting 10³ = 1,000 (one thousand). Consequently, the letter K can be used in spoken conversation to mean "thousand". Compare with use as a binary prefix in computing above.
  • K is the symbol for the SI base unit for temperature, the kelvin.
• In World War II, K was the designation for Japanese Navy trainer aircraft.