The kilometre (
SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances i ...
, is a
unit of length
A unit of length refers to any arbitrarily chosen and accepted reference standard for measurement of length. The most common units in modern use are the metric units, used in every country globally. In the United States the U.S. customary uni ...
in the
International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand
metre
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...
s (
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 () ...
being the
SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for expressing distances between geographical places on land in most of the world; notable exceptions are the United States and the United Kingdom where the
statute mile
The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Engli ...
is the unit used.
The abbreviations k or K (pronounced ) are commonly used to represent kilometre, but are not recommended by the
BIPM. A slang term for the kilometre in the US, UK, and Canadian militaries is ''
klick
Click, Klick and Klik may refer to:
Airlines
* Click Airways, a UAE airline
* Clickair, a Spanish airline
* MexicanaClick, a Mexican airline
Art, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
* Klick (fictional species), an alien race in the g ...
''.
Pronunciation
There are two common pronunciations for the word.
#
#
The first pronunciation follows a pattern in English whereby metric units are pronounced with the stress on the first syllable (as in
kilogram,
kilojoule
The joule ( , ; symbol: J) is the unit of energy in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to the amount of work done when a force of 1 newton displaces a mass through a distance of 1 metre in the direction of the force applied ...
and
kilohertz) and the pronunciation of the actual base unit does not change irrespective of the prefix (as in
centimetre
330px, Different lengths as in respect to the Electromagnetic spectrum, measured by the Metre and its deriveds scales. The Microwave are in-between 1 meter to 1 millimeter.
A centimetre (international spelling) or centimeter (American spellin ...
,
millimetre,
nanometre and so on). It is generally preferred by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Many other users, particularly in countries where the metric system is not widely used, use the second pronunciation with stress on the second syllable. The second pronunciation follows the stress pattern used for the names of measuring instruments (such as ''micrometer'', ''barometer'', ''thermometer'', ''tachometer'' and ''speedometer''). The contrast is even more obvious in countries which use the Commonwealth spelling rather than American spelling of the word ''metre''. This pronunciation is irregular because this makes the kilometre the only SI unit in which the stress is on the second syllable.
When Australia introduced the metric system in 1975, the first pronunciation was declared official by the government's Metric Conversion Board. However, the Australian prime minister at the time,
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the ...
, insisted that the second pronunciation was the correct one because of the Greek origins of the two parts of the word.
Equivalence to other units of length
:
History
![Division of the meridien](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Division_of_the_meridien.PNG)
By a decree of 8 May 1790, the French
National Constituent Assembly ordered the
French Academy of Sciences to develop a new measurement system. In August 1793, the French
National Convention
The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year Nationa ...
decreed the
metre
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...
as the sole length measurement system in the French Republic and it was based on millionth of the distance from the
orbital pole
An orbital pole is either point at the ends of an imaginary line segment that runs through the center of an orbit (of a revolving body like a planet, moon or satellite) and is perpendicular to the orbital plane. Projected onto the celestial sphe ...
s (either North or South) to the
Equator, this being a truly internationally based unit. The first name of the kilometre was "Millaire".
Although the metre was formally defined in 1799, the
myriametre
The following are examples of orders of magnitude for different lengths.
__TOC__
Overview
Detailed list
To help compare different orders of magnitude, the following list describes various lengths between 1.6 \times 10^ metres and 10 ...
( metres) was preferred to the "kilometre" for everyday use. The term "''myriamètre''" appeared a number of times in the text of Develey's book ''Physique d'Emile: ou, Principes de la science de la nature'', (published in 1802), while the term ''kilometre'' only appeared in an appendix. French maps published in 1835 had scales showing ''myriametres'' and "''lieues de Poste'' (Postal leagues of about metres).
The Dutch, on the other hand, adopted the kilometre in 1817 but gave it the local name of the ''mijl''. It was only in 1867 that the term "''kilometer'' became the only official unit of measure in the Netherlands to represent metres.
Two German textbooks dated 1842
and 1848 respectively give a snapshot of the use of the kilometre across Europe: the kilometre was in use in the Netherlands and in Italy, and the myriametre was in use in France.
In 1935, the
International Committee for Weights and Measures
The General Conference on Weights and Measures (GCWM; french: Conférence générale des poids et mesures, CGPM) is the supreme authority of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), the intergovernmental organization established i ...
(CIPM) officially abolished the prefix "myria-" and with it the "myriametre", leaving the kilometre as the recognised unit of length for measurements of that magnitude.
Kilometre records
Some sporting disciplines feature (one-kilometre) races in major events (such as the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
). In some disciplines—although world records are catalogued—one-kilometre events remain a minority.
See also
*
Conversion of units
Conversion of units is the conversion between different units of measurement for the same quantity, typically through multiplicative conversion factors which change the measured quantity value without changing its effects.
Overview
The process ...
, for comparison with other units of length
*
Cubic metre
*
Metric prefix
A metric prefix is a unit prefix that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a multiple or submultiple of the unit. All metric prefixes used today are decadic. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to any unit symbol. The pr ...
*
Mileage
*
Odometer
*
Orders of magnitude (length)
The following are examples of orders of magnitude for different lengths.
__TOC__
Overview
Detailed list
To help compare different orders of magnitude, the following list describes various lengths between 1.6 \times 10^ metres and 10 ...
*
Square kilometre
References
External links
*
{{SI units of length
Metre
+03
1000 (number)