K K, the eleventh letter of the English Alphabet,is borrowed from the Greeks, being the same character as the Greek kappa, answering to the oriental kaph. It represents a close articulation, formed by pressing the root of the tongue against the upper part of the mouth, with a depression of the lower jaw and opening of the teeth. It is usually denominated a guttural, but is more properly a palatal. Before all the vowels,it has one invariable sound, corresponding with that of c, before a, o, and u, as in keel,ken. In monosyllables, it is used after c, as in crack, check, deck, being necessary to exhibit a correct pronunciation in the derivatives, cracked, checked, decked, cracking, for without it, c, before the vowels e and i, would be sounded like s.
Formerly, k was added to c, in certain words of Latin origin, as in musick, publick, republick. But in modern practice, k is very properly omitted, being entirely superfluous, and the more properly, as it is never written in the derivatives, musical, publication, republican. It is retained in traffick, as in monosyllables, on account of the pronunciation of the derivatives, trafficked, trafficking.
K is silent before n, as in know, knife, knee. As a numeral, K stands for 250; and with a stroke over it, for 250,000. This character was not used by the ancient Romans, and rarely in the later ages of their empire. In the place of k, they used c, as in clino, for Greek. In the Teutonic dialects, this Greek letter is sometimes represented by h. [See H.]

k adj 1: denoting a quantity consisting of 1,000 items or units [syn: thousand, one thousand, 1000, m, k] n 1: the basic unit of thermodynamic temperature adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites [syn: kelvin, K] 2: a light soft silver-white metallic element of the alkali metal group; oxidizes rapidly in air and reacts violently with water; is abundant in nature in combined forms occurring in sea water and in carnallite and kainite and sylvite [syn: potassium, K, atomic number 19] 3: the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100 [syn: thousand, one thousand, 1000, M, K, chiliad, G, grand, thou, yard] 4: a unit of information equal to 1000 bytes [syn: kilobyte, K, KB, kB] 5: a unit of information equal to 1024 bytes [syn: kilobyte, kibibyte, K, KB, kB, KiB] 6: the 11th letter of the Roman alphabet [syn: K, k] 7: street names for ketamine [syn: K, jet, super acid, special K, honey oil, green, cat valium, super C]

K I. abbreviation 1. Kelvin 2. kilometer II. symbol Etymology: New Latin kalium potassium

k I. noun (plural k's or ks) Usage: often capitalized, often attributive Date: before 12th century 1. a. the 11th letter of the English alphabet b. a graphic representation of this letter c. a speech counterpart of orthographic k 2. a graphic device for reproducing the letter k 3. one designated k especially as the 11th in order or class 4. something shaped like the letter K 5. a unit vector parallel to the z-axis 6. [kilo-] thousand <a salary of $24K> 7. [kilo-] a unit of computer storage capacity equal to 1024 bytes <uses 350K of disk space> 8. capitalized [struck] strikeout II. abbreviation 1. karat 2. kindergarten 3. king 4. kitchen 5. knit 6. knot 7. koruna 8. kosher — often enclosed in a circle 9. kyat

K
1.
n. (also k) (pl. Ks or K's) the eleventh letter of the alphabet.
2.
abbr. (also K.)
1 kelvin(s).
2 King, King's.
3 Köchel (catalogue of Mozart's works).
4 (also k) (prec. by a numeral) a Computing a unit of 1,024 (i.e. 2(10)) bytes or bits, or loosely 1,000. b 1,000.
Etymology: sense 4 as abbr. of KILO-
3.
symb. Chem. the element potassium.

k
abbr.
1 kilo-.
2 knot(s).

k abbr. 1 kilo-. 2 knot(s).

K \K\, (k[=a]), the eleventh letter of the English alphabet, is nonvocal consonant. The form and sound of the letter K are from the Latin, which used the letter but little except in the early period of the language. It came into the Latin from the Greek, which received it from a Ph[oe]nician source, the ultimate origin probably being Egyptian. Etymologically K is most nearly related to c, g, h (which see). Note: In many words of one syllable k is used after c, as in crack, check, deck, being necessary to exhibit a correct pronunciation in the derivatives, cracked, checked, decked, cracking; since without it, c, before the vowels e and i, would be sounded like s. Formerly, k was added to c in certain words of Latin origin, as in musick, publick, republick; but now it is omitted. Note: See Guide to Pronunciation, [sect][sect] 240, 178, 179, 185.

Mute \Mute\, n. 1. One who does not speak, whether from physical inability, unwillingness, or other cause. Specifically: (a) One who, from deafness, either congenital or from early life, is unable to use articulate language; a deaf-mute. (b) A person employed by undertakers at a funeral. (c) A person whose part in a play does not require him to speak. (d) Among the Turks, an officer or attendant who is selected for his place because he can not speak. 2. (Phon.) A letter which represents no sound; a silent letter; also, a close articulation; an element of speech formed by a position of the mouth organs which stops the passage of the breath; as, p, b, d, k, t. 3. (Mus.) A little utensil made of brass, ivory, or other material, so formed that it can be fixed in an erect position on the bridge of a violin, or similar instrument, in order to deaden or soften the tone.

K /K/ n. [from kilo-] A kilobyte. Used both as a spoken word and a written suffix (like meg and gig for megabyte and gigabyte). See {quantifiers}.

k- pref. [rare; poss fr. `kilo-' prefix] Extremely. Rare among hackers, but quite common among crackers and warez d00dz in compounds such as `k-kool' /K'kool'/, `k-rad' /K'rad'/, and `k-awesome' /K'aw`sm/. Also used to intensify negatives; thus, `k-evil', `k-lame', `k-screwed', and `k-annoying'. Overuse of this prefix, or use in more formal or technical contexts, is considered an indicator of lamer status.

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