K is the eleventh letter of the Latin alphabet. K may also refer to:

General uses

K (programming language) K is a proprietary array processing programming language developed by Arthur Whitney and commercialized by Kx Systems. The language serves as the foundation for kdb+, an in-memory, column-based database, and other related financial products. T ...

, an array processing language developed by Arthur Whitney and commercialized by Kx Systems *

K (cider) K is a cider manufactured and distributed by C&C Group plc. In the UK Advertised under the slogan 'The Mark of Quality', the canned version available in the UK was initially 8.4% ABV. At one time, two bottled versions were available, one at 8.4 ...

, a British draft cider manufactured and distributed by the Gaymer Cider Company of Bath, England *

K band (disambiguation) K band may refer to: * K band (IEEE), a radio frequency band from 18 to 27 GHz * K band (infrared), an atmospheric transmission window centred on 2.2 μm * K band (NATO) The NATO K band is the obsolete designation given to the radio frequencies fro ...

K computer The K computer named for the Japanese word/numeral , meaning 10 quadrillion (1016)See Japanese numbers was a supercomputer manufactured by Fujitsu, installed at the Riken Advanced Institute for Computational Science campus in Kobe, Hyōgo Pref ...

, a Japanese supercomputer *

K-factor (disambiguation) K-factor or K factor may refer to: Engineering and technology * K-factor (aeronautics), the number of pulses expected for every one volumetric unit of fluid passing through a given flow meter * K-factor (centrifugation), relative pelleting effici ...

, several unrelated terms in physics, engineering, telecommunications and chess * K (Broadway Brooklyn Local), earlier KK, a defunct service in the New York City Subway discontinued in 1976 *

K (Eighth Avenue Local) The K Eighth Avenue Local, earlier the AA, was a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway. Its route bullet was colored on station signs, car rollsigns, and the official subway map since it ran on the IND Eighth Avenue Line. The K ope ...

, a defunct service on the New York City Subway, which was known as the AA until 1985 *

Vitamin K Vitamin K refers to structurally similar, fat-soluble vitamers found in foods and marketed as dietary supplements. The human body requires vitamin K for post-synthesis modification of certain proteins that are required for blood coagulation ...

, a group of vitamins that are needed to promote blood coagulation *

Kappa Kappa (uppercase Κ, lowercase κ or cursive ; el, κάππα, ''káppa'') is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless velar plosive sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals, has a value o ...

(Κ) (Greek alphabet) *

Ka (Cyrillic) Ka (К к; italics: ) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It commonly represents the voiceless velar plosive /k/, like the pronunciation of ⟨k⟩ in "king" or "kick". History The Cyrillic letter Ka was derived from the Greek letter Kapp ...

(К) (Cyrillic alphabet) * Chrysler K platform, 1981–1995 car design used by Chrysler * Low-K, the dielectric constant in semiconductors, electronics, and physics * K–12 education, a designation for the sum of primary and secondary education, used mainly in North America * K, a prefix for

North American call sign Call signs are frequently still used by North American broadcast stations, in addition to amateur radio and other international radio stations that continue to identify by call signs around the world. Each country has a different set of pattern ...

s used by broadcast stations in the US west of the Mississippi River *

K College K College, was also known as South & West Kent College, was an English college of Further Education and Higher Education with facilities across Kent, formed in April 2010, by the merger of South Kent College with West Kent College. In 2014 i ...

, in Tonbridge, Kent

People

* Adem K, Australian musician *

Yasmin K. Yasmin Knoch (born 27 September 1976), known professionally as Yasmin K. and also using the name Y-ass, is a German pop singer. She is best known for appearing in 2001 on the second season of ''Popstars''. Life and career Born in Soufrière, ...

, German singer * K (composer), Indian film composer *

K (singer) Kang Yoon-sung (born November 16, 1983), better known by his stage name K, is a pop singer from South Korea under contract in Japan. He was born in Goyang. In 2004, after achieving little success with his first album in South Korea, K crossed ove ...

(born 1983), Korean singer who works in Japan as a J-pop singer * K, deceased guitarist of Japanese visual kei band Moi Dix Mois

In fiction and literature

Books

* ''K'' (Minogue and Baker book), a photographic book by Kylie Minogue and William Baker * ''K'', a 2011 novel by Bernardo Kucinski, Brazilian journalist and political scientist * ''K.'' (novel), a 1915 novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart * ''

"K" Is for Killer ''"K" Is for Killer'' is the 11th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. The novel was a ''New York Times'' bestseller with a reported 600,000-copy ...

'', the eleventh novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet mystery" series, published in 1994

Films and TV

* ''K'' (2002 film), directed by Shoja Azari, an Iranian American * ''K'', a 1997 French film directed by Alexandre Arcady * ''K'' (TV series), a Japanese anime *K, the production code for the 1964 ''Doctor Who'' serial '' The Dalek Invasion of Earth''

Characters

* K, the protagonist of Franz Kafka's 1926 novel '' The Castle'' * K, a character in the manga and anime '' ''Gravitation'''' * K, the main character in the novel by the same name by Bernardo Kucinski * K, the main character in the TV series ''Robotto Keiji'' ('' Robot Detective'') * K, Todd and Riley's adoptive superspy mother on the Disney program '' The Replacements'' * K, the protagonist played by John Abraham in '' No Smoking'' * K, a character in Natsume Soseki's novel ''

Kokoro is a novel by the Japanese author Natsume Sōseki. It was first published in 1914 in serial form in the Japanese newspaper ''Asahi Shimbun''. The title translated literally means "heart". The word contains shades of meaning—notions of the he ...

'' * K, a character in the visual novel Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward * K′, also known as "K Dash" or "K Prime", a ''King of Fighters'' character * Agent K, the character played by Tommy Lee Jones in ''Men in Black'', ''Men in Black II'', and ''Men in Black 3'' * Joseph K., the protagonist of Kafka's 1925 novel, '' The Trial'' * K, the main character in the 2017 film ''

Blade Runner 2049 ''Blade Runner 2049'' is a 2017 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. A sequel to the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'', the film stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, w ...

'' * Dr. K, the character in '' Power Rangers RPM''

Other

* K, a constructed language invented by

Robert Dessaix Robert Dessaix (born 17 February 1944) is an Australian novelist, essayist and journalist. Biography Robert Dessaix was born in Sydney and adopted at an early age by Tom and Jean Jones, after which he was known as Robert Jones. Tom Jones, a ...

In mathematics

K_n

and

K_

, the

complete Complete may refer to: Logic * Completeness (logic) * Completeness of a theory, the property of a theory that every formula in the theory's language or its negation is provable Mathematics * The completeness of the real numbers, which implies t ...

and complete bipartite graph * K-theory, a branch of topology and algebra *

\mathbb K

, in blackboard bold, is a commonly used symbol for a

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

, as an abbreviation of the German ''Körper''. * , the

complete elliptic integral of the first kind In integral calculus, an elliptic integral is one of a number of related functions defined as the value of certain integrals, which were first studied by Giulio Fagnano and Leonhard Euler (). Their name originates from their originally arising in ...

In music

* K., abbreviation for

Ralph Kirkpatrick Ralph Leonard Kirkpatrick (; June 10, 1911April 13, 1984) was an American harpsichordist and musicologist, widely known for his chronological catalog of Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas as well as for his performances and recordings. Life ...

’s chronological catalogue of Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas * K., abbreviation for the Köchel catalogue, chronological catalogue of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart * K Records, independent record company based in Olympia, Washington

Albums

* ''K'' (album), 1996 album by Kula Shaker

Songs

*"K", a song by

Cul de Sac (band) Cul de Sac are a rock group formed in 1990 in Boston, Massachusetts and led by guitarist Glenn Jones. Their music is primarily instrumental. Jones and keyboardist Robin Amos have been the only constant members. They have been classified by so ...

* K, a song by the Japanese rock band

Bump of Chicken is a Japanese alternative rock group from Sakura, Chiba, Japan. The band members are Motoo Fujiwara (Vocalist, vocals, Rhythm guitar, rhythm), Hiroaki Masukawa (guitar), Yoshifumi Naoi (Bass guitar, bass) and Hideo Masu (Drum kit, drums). Since ...

* "K" (The Tutts song), 2006 song by The Tutts *"K", a song by

The Hold Steady The Hold Steady is an American rock band originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, now based in Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2003. The band consists of Craig Finn (vocals, guitar), Tad Kubler (guitar), Galen Polivka (bass), Bobby Drake (drums), ...

*"K.", a song from ''Cigarettes After Sex'' (album) by Cigarettes After Sex

In politics

* K, the , the

Centre Party (Finland) The Centre Party ( fi, Suomen Keskusta , ''Kesk''; sv, Centern i Finland), officially the Centre Party of Finland, is an agrarian political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Centre Party is positioned in the centre on the political spect ...

* K, , the Communist Party (Sweden) * K, the politics and followers of former President of Argentina Néstor Kirchner (1950-2010)

As a symbol or abbreviation

* k, from Latin kilo, for

1000 (number) 1000 or one thousand is the natural number following 999 and preceding 1001. In most English-speaking countries, it can be written with or without a comma or sometimes a period separating the thousands digit: 1,000. A group of one thousand th ...

* K,

ketamine Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used medically for induction and maintenance of anesthesia. It is also used as a recreational drug. It is one of the safest anesthetics, as, in contrast with opiates, ether, and propofol, it suppresses ne ...

, a street abbreviation for a recreational drug * K, Kyocera' s mobile phones in Japan * K, a

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

in baseball scorekeeping * K, a contract in

legal shorthand This is a list of abbreviations used in law and legal documents. It is common practice in legal documents to cite other publications by using standard abbreviations for the title of each source. Abbreviations may also be found for common words o ...

* k, a voiceless velar plosive in the International Phonetic Alphabet * K, key color (i.e., black) in the CMYK color model, especially for printing * k, abbreviation of

okay ''OK'' (spelling variations include ''okay'', ''O.K.'', ''ok'' and ''Ok'') is an English word (originating in American English) denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, acknowledgment, or a sign of indifference. ''OK'' is frequently ...

, commonly used in instant messaging, or in S.M.S. messages * K, the

construction point The construction point ( ger, Konstruktionspunkt), also known as the K-point or K-spot and formerly critical point, is a line across a ski jumping hill. It is used to calculate the number of points granted for a given jump. It is therefore also ca ...

of a ski jumping hill * k, a shorthand for a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

in the British honours system * K, the ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange for the

Kellogg Company The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toas ...

*K, abbreviation of gridiron football position Kicker (also known as placekicker)

Unit

* k, symbol of the ''

kilo- Kilo is a decimal unit prefix in the metric system denoting multiplication by one thousand (103). It is used in the International System of Units, where it has the symbol k, in lowercase. The prefix ''kilo'' is derived from the Greek word (), ...

'' prefix in the SI and other systems of unit that denotes multiples of 1000 * K,

kelvin The kelvin, symbol K, is the primary unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI), used alongside its prefixed forms and the degree Celsius. It is named after the Belfast-born and University of Glasgow-based engineer and phys ...

, the SI unit of thermodynamic temperature * K (upper case), informal abbreviation for

kibibyte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

or 1024 bytes * k (lower case), informal abbreviation for

kilobyte The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The International System of Units (SI) defines the prefix ''kilo'' as 1000 (103); per this definition, one kilobyte is 1000 bytes.International Standard IEC 80000-13 Quantiti ...

or 1000 bytes * k,

kilobit The kilobit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix ''kilo-'' (symbol k) is defined in the International System of Units (SI) as a multiplier of 103 (1 thousand), and therefore, :1 kilobit = = 1000& ...

(correctly kbit) * k or K, abbreviation for

kilometre The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for ex ...

(SI symbol: km) (especially in measured-distance sports, e.g. "10K run") * k or K, abbreviation for kilohm, a measure of resistance in electronics

In the natural sciences

* K, one-letter designation for the amino acid

lysine Lysine (symbol Lys or K) is an α-amino acid that is a precursor to many proteins. It contains an α-amino group (which is in the protonated form under biological conditions), an α-carboxylic acid group (which is in the deprotonated −C ...

* K, for

carrying capacity The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as t ...

of an environment * K

carat (purity) The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hardn ...

, measurement applied to gold * K, the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

geological period

In the physical sciences

Potassium Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosphe ...

, symbol K, a chemical element * ''k'', angular wavenumber of a wave * k, wavevector of a wave * K, the symbol that represents a kaon in particle physics * ''k'', the spring constant in Hooke's law relating deformation (strain) and force applied (stress) to a material body * ''k'' or ''k'', the

Boltzmann constant The Boltzmann constant ( or ) is the proportionality factor that relates the average relative kinetic energy of particles in a gas with the thermodynamic temperature of the gas. It occurs in the definitions of the kelvin and the gas constant, ...

, the physical constant relating energy and temperature at the particle level *

\kappa

or ''K'',

relative static permittivity The relative permittivity (in older texts, dielectric constant) is the permittivity of a material expressed as a ratio with the vacuum permittivity, electric permittivity of a vacuum. A dielectric is an insulating material, and the dielectric co ...

(dielectric constant) * ''k''_e, the

Coulomb constant The Coulomb constant, the electric force constant, or the electrostatic constant (denoted , or ) is a proportionality constant in electrostatics equations. In SI base units it is equal to .Derived from ''k''e = 1/(4''πε''0) – It was named ...

* ''K'',

equilibrium constant The equilibrium constant of a chemical reaction is the value of its reaction quotient at chemical equilibrium, a state approached by a dynamic chemical system after sufficient time has elapsed at which its composition has no measurable tendency ...

* ''k'',

thermal conductivity The thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of its ability to conduct heat. It is commonly denoted by k, \lambda, or \kappa. Heat transfer occurs at a lower rate in materials of low thermal conductivity than in materials of high thermal ...

* ''k'', the

Gaussian gravitational constant The Gaussian gravitational constant (symbol ) is a parameter used in the orbital mechanics of the Solar System. It relates the orbital period to the orbit's semi-major axis and the mass of the orbiting body in Solar masses. The value of histori ...

* ''k'', often used for some

proportionality constant In mathematics, two sequences of numbers, often experimental data, are proportional or directly proportional if their corresponding elements have a constant ratio, which is called the coefficient of proportionality or proportionality constan ...

Military and guns

Kilo KILO (94.3 FM, 94.3 KILO) is a radio station broadcasting in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, Colorado. It also streams online. History KLST and KPIK-FM The 94.3 signal signed on the air on August 22, 1962, as KLST, owned by Little London Broa ...

, the military time zone code for UTC+10:00 * Operation K, a Japanese World War II naval operation *

The K Project The Soviet Union's K project nuclear test series was a group of five nuclear tests conducted in 1961–1962. These tests followed the 1961 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1962 Soviet nuclear tests series. The K project nuclear te ...

, a series of five nuclear tests by the Soviet Union *

Swedish K The Kulsprutepistol m/45 (Kpist m/45), also known as the Carl Gustaf M/45 and the Swedish K SMG, is a 9×19mm Parabellum, 9×19mm Swedish submachine gun (SMG) designed by Gunnar Johansson, adopted in 1945 (hence the m/45 designation), and manufac ...

, a submachine gun * AK-47, an assault rifle

Transportation

K (Los Angeles Railway) K was a streetcar line in Los Angeles, California. It was operated by the Los Angeles Railway from 1913 to 1941. History The East Jefferson and 38th Street line opened on February 1, 1913. It ran from Main Street and Jefferson Avenue to East 38t ...

, defunct streetcar line in Los Angeles, California * K (Broadway Brooklyn Local), earlier KK, discontinued in 1976 *

, a defunct train service on the New York City Subway, which was known as the AA until 1985 * K Ingleside (San Francisco Muni) *

K Line (Los Angeles Metro) The K Line is a light rail line running north-south between the Jefferson Park and Westchester neighborhoods of Los Angeles, California, passing through various South Los Angeles neighborhoods and the city of Inglewood. It is one of seven li ...