kilo

(kē'lō)
n., pl., -los.

1. A kilogram.
2. A kilometer.

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has the plural form kilos.

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[Etymology: Gk: ‘thousand’] Symbol now k-, until 1960 K-. (Metric) The 1 000 = 10³ multiplier, e.g. 1 kilogram = 1 kg = 10³ g; contractable to kil- before a vowel, e.g. 1 kilohm = 1 kΩ = 10³ Ω.

A legal prefix in the UK for trade only as kilometre and kilogram.The UK Weights and Measures Act 1985 explicitly excluded from use for trade the bushell, cental, chain, drachm, dram, fluid drachm, furlong, grain, hundredweight, ounce apoth., peck, pennyweight, quarter, quintal, rood, scruple, stone, ton, the square mile, cubic inch, cubic foot, cubic yard, and the term ‘metric ton’. However, the legal status of the bushell, fluid drachm, and peck had been repealed, along with all apothecaries' units and troy units other than ounce, by Order in 1970. Besides the remaining BI units and the simple SI units, the Act included the kilometre, decimetre, centimetre and millimetre, the square metre, square decimetre, square centimetre and square millimetre, the hectare and decare along with the are, the cubic metre, cubic decimetre and cubic centimetre, the hectolitre decilitre, centilitre and millilitre, the tonne (or ‘metric tonne’), kilogram, hectogram, milligram and carat (metric). All had been included in the similar Act of 1963, but with some variation of name: -gram was -gramme, decare was dekare, the tonne appeared only as metric ton.

informatics. Symbol often K-. Often the value 1 024 = 2¹⁰, being the binary power close to 10³, particularly as kilobytes (KB) and kilobits (Kb). This arises as a matter of convenient terminology for memories and similar entities organized on a binary basis. But see kibi-.

Thousand (10 to the 3rd power). Abbreviated "K." For technical specifications, it refers to the precise value 1,024 since computer specifications are based on binary numbers. For example, 64K means 65,536 bytes when referring to memory or storage (64x1024), but a 64K salary means $64,000. The IEEE uses "K" for 1,024, and "k" for 1,000. See KB, binary values and space/time.

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As a prefix for units of measurement, one thousand times (i.e. 10³); symbol k.

For a list of words related to kilo, see:

• Drug Names and Forms - kilo: Slang. pressed bundle of marijuana weighing one kilogram; one kilogram of any drug

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See words rhyming with "kilo."

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Dansk (Danish)
pref. - kilo-

Nederlands (Dutch)
kilo

Français (French)
pref. - (préf) kilo- signifiant mille et utilisé dans le système métrique et les unités de mesure (kilomètre, kilo-octet, etc)

Deutsch (German)
pref. - Kilo-

Ελληνική (Greek)
pref. - χιλιο-

Español (Spanish)
pref. - kilo

Svenska (Swedish)
pref. - kilo-

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
千

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
pref. - 千

한국어 (Korean)
pref. - 1000의 뜻

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) كيلوغرام كيلومتر (بادئه الكلمه) بادئه معناها ألف‏

עברית (Hebrew)
pref. - ‮אלף (תחילית)‬

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