The eleventh letter of the Latin alphabet, K comes from the Greek Κ or κ (Kappa) developed from the Semitic Kap, symbol for an open hand. The Semitic sound 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.

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

Alternate 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 baseball, K is the abbreviation for strikeout.
• In biochemistry, K is the symbol for 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.
• 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 Metric prefix below.)
  • 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 financial securities, K is the stock symbol for the Kellogg Company.
• In Hong Kong slang, K is the abbreviation for karaoke.
• In international licence plate codes, K stands for Cambodia.
• In internet slang, K stands for okay.
• 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 the Metric system,
  • k is an SI prefix denoting 10³ = 1,000 (one 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 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 physics,
  • k is the symbol for the Boltzmann constant.
  • k is the symbol for the spring constant in Hooke's law.
• In semiconductors, electronics and physics, it is the symbol for the dielectric constant. See Low-K.
• 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)
• 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".

See also