A KO is a

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

in various sports, such as boxing and martial arts. K.O., Ko or Kō may also refer to:

Arts and entertainment

Music

KO (musician) Ko Kapches (born c. 1986), better known by the stage name KO ( ), is a Canadian musician whose music is a mix of folk, hip hop, reggae, rock and R&B

, Canadian musician who plays a fusion of hip hop and folk music * ''K.O.'' (album), a 2021 album by Danna Paola * ''Ko'' (soundtrack), for the 2011 Indian film (see below) by Harris Jayaraj * K.O (rapper), South African rapper Ntokozo Mdluli *

Karen O Karen Lee Orzolek (born November 22, 1978) is a South Korean-born American singer, musician, and songwriter. She is best known as the lead vocalist of the indie rock band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Early life Karen Lee Orzolek was born in Seoul, So ...

(born 1978), lead singer of the rock group Yeah Yeah Yeahs *

Kevin Olusola Kevin Oluwole Olusola, also known as K.O., (born October 5, 1988) is an American singer-songwriter, beatboxer, and cellist. Olusola is best known as the beatboxer of the a cappella group Pentatonix. After the group won NBC's ''The Sing-Off'' in ...

, American cellist, beatboxer and member of ''a cappella'' group Pentatonix * K.O. (song), a song by Pabllo Vittar * ''K.O.'', a 2008 album by

Rize Rize (; ; ; ka, რიზე}; ) is a coastal city in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Rize Province and Rize District.Smujji

Other media

Ko (Go) A ''ko'' (Japanese: コウ, 劫, ''kō'', from the translation of the Sanskrit term kalpa) fight is a tactical and strategic phase that can arise in the game of Go. ''Ko'' threats and ''ko'' fights The existence of ''ko'' fights is implied by t ...

, in the board game ''Go'' * ''Ko'' (film), a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action film by K. V. Anand * '' Knight Online'', a 2004 online role-playing game

Language

* Ko language *

Ko (kana) こ, in hiragana or コ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represents one mora. Both represent . The shape of these kana comes from the kanji 己. This character may be supplemented by a dakuten; it becomes ご in hiragana ...

, the romanization of the Japanese kana こ and コ * ISO 639-1 code for the

Korean language Korean is the first language, native language for about 81 million people, mostly of Koreans, Korean descent. It is the national language of both South Korea and North Korea. In the south, the language is known as () and in the north, it is kn ...

Surname

Ko (Korean surname) Ko (), also variously romanized Go, Goh, or Koh, is a common Korean surname. Among Koreans with this surname, the largest clan is the , named for its ''bon-gwan'' (clan hometown) of Jeju Island; they claim descent from , the first ruler of the k ...

Gao (surname) Gao () is an East Asian surname of Chinese origin that can be literally translated as "high" or "tall". There are approximately 17 million living people with this surname. Some places, such as Taiwan, usually romanise this family name into "Kao". I ...

, a surname of Chinese origin romanized to Ko in Hong Kong, and in several romanizations especially in South-east Asia *

Ke (surname) Ke () is a Chinese surname. It originally appeared on the Hundred Family Surnames. As of 2006 was no longer one of the top 100 most common surnames. A 2013 study found that it was the 145th most common surname, shared by 1.06 million people or 0.080 ...

, a Chinese surname romanized as "Ko" in the Wade–Giles system *

Xu (surname 許) Xu () is a Chinese surname. In the Wade-Giles system of Romanization of Chinese, romanization, it is romanized as Hsu, which is commonly used in Taiwan. Variations Sinitic languages * Cantonese: Heoi (Jyutping), Héui (Yale romanization of Can ...

, a surname of Chinese romanized as Ko in the Teochew dialect

People

* K.O (rapper) South African musician and businessman *

KO (musician) Ko Kapches (born c. 1986), better known by the stage name KO ( ), is a Canadian musician whose music is a mix of folk, hip hop, reggae, rock and R&B

, Canadian musician who plays a fusion of hip hop and folk music *

Ko Simpson Yukota "Ko" Simpson (born November 9, 1983) is an American former professional football safety. He was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL draft. He played college football at South Carolina. He also played for the ...

(born 1983), professional American football player for the Buffalo Bills *

Kevin Owens Kevin Yanick Steen (born May 7, 1984) is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Kevin Owens. As of April 2025, he is on hiatus due to a neck injury. Steen began his ...

, Canadian professional wrestler *

Yi Ko Yi Ko (?–1171) was a military ruler in Korea. He, with many other military colonels, overthrew King Uijong in the year 1170. After the successful coup, he was rewarded with title of Minister of the Palace Guards () and Grand General (). When ...

(died 1171), Korean military ruler

Places

Ko Mountain Ko () is a peak in the southern part of Khabarovsk Krai near the border of Primorsky Krai. It sits at 2,004 m above sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's c ...

, the second-highest peak in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains of Russia * Ko. Madhepura, Nepal, a village development committee *

Ko, Lamphun Ko, Lamphun (, ) is a village and ''tambon'' (subdistrict) of Li District, in Lamphun Province, Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeas ...

, Thailand, a village and subdistrict * Kö, an urban boulevard in Düsseldorf, Germany

Science and technology

* Ko, an ancient Chinese weapon also known as a

dagger-axe The dagger-axe () is a type of polearm that was in use from the Longshan culture until the Han dynasty in China. It consists of a dagger-shaped blade, mounted by its tang to a perpendicular wooden shaft. The earliest dagger-axe blades were m ...

in English * Kō, a version of the

foot plough The foot plough is a type of plough used like a spade with the foot in order to cultivate the ground. New Zealand Before the widespread use of metal farm tools from Europe, the Māori people used the , a version of the foot plough made entirely ...

used by the Māori people *

Gene knockout Gene knockouts (also known as gene deletion or gene inactivation) are a widely used genetic engineering technique that involves the gene targeting, targeted removal or inactivation of a specific gene within an organism's genome. This can be done t ...

, a molecular biology genetic technique, abbreviated KO *

Knowledge organization Knowledge organization (KO), organization of knowledge, organization of information, or information organization is an intellectual discipline concerned with activities such as document description, indexing, and classification that serve to ...

, branch of information science ** ''Knowledge Organization'', an academic journal published by the

International Society for Knowledge Organization The International Society for Knowledge Organization, or ISKO, is a professional association for scholars of knowledge organization, knowledge structures, classification studies, and information organization and structure. Publications The Soc ...

* kilo

octet (computing) The octet is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that consists of eight bits. The term is often used when the term '' byte'' might be ambiguous, as the byte has historically been used for storage units of a varie ...

, a unit of information or computer storage *

Loadable kernel module A loadable kernel module (LKM) is an executable library that extends the capabilities of a running kernel, or so-called ''base kernel'', of an operating system. LKMs are typically used to add support for new hardware (as device drivers) and/or ...

(file extension .ko) * Real ''K''-theory

Transportation

* Kō Station (Aichi) on the Meitetsu Nagoya Main Line in Japan * Kō Station (Tokushima) on the Tokushima Line in Japan *

Alaska Central Express Alaska Central Express is an airline based at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. It is a cargo and small package express service. History The airline was established as Yutana Airlines in 1987 and ...

, IATA airline designator

Other uses

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

, stock ticker symbol and corporate internet domain ko.com *

Civic Coalition (Poland) The Civic Coalition (, KO) is a big tent political alliance currently ruling in Poland. The alliance was formed in 2018 around Civic Platform, in opposition to the then-ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. History The Civic Coalition was origi ...

, or Koalicja Obywatelska (KO), a Polish electoral alliance * Knock-off, a

counterfeit A counterfeit is a fake or unauthorized replica of a genuine product, such as money, documents, designer items, or other valuable goods. Counterfeiting generally involves creating an imitation of a genuine item that closely resembles the original ...

product *

Kelly Oils Ltd John Kelly Limited, also known as Kelly's Coal Quay, Kelly's Coal, or simply Kelly's, was best known for being coal merchants and shipowner in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Dating back to the 1840s, when Samuel Kelly started a grocers and coal commi ...

, a fuels merchant in Northern Ireland *

Kemetic Orthodoxy Kemetic Orthodoxy is a modern religious movement based on the reconstruction of the ancient Egyptian religion known as Kemeticism. It was founded in 1988 by Tamara Siuda, who until 2023 was recognized as the leader of the movement, referred to ...

, a religion * Contracting Officer, US government acronym KO or CO * K.O., protagonist in '' OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'' * Ko Ukumori, a character in the air combat game '' The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces'' * Dukkha, the concept of unsatisfactoriness in Buddhism *

Kick-off (association football) A kick-off is the method of starting and, in some cases, restarting play in a game of association football. The rules concerning the kick-off are part of Law 8 of the Laws of the Game. Award A kick-off is used to start each half of play, and e ...

, the time or manner of start of play * Kō, Japanese for incense; see

Japanese incense The burning of incense in Japan began during the 6th century (the Asuka period) with the introduction of Buddhism, which uses incense during rituals and ceremonies. Agarwood was imported into Japan from China via Korea. From that point on, ince ...

Kōdō is the art of appreciating Japanese incense, and involves using incense within a structure of codified conduct. ''Kōdō'' includes all aspects of the incense process, from the , to activities such as the incense-comparing games and . ''Kōdō ...

, the art of appreciating Japanese incense * Momofuku Ko, a New York restaurant