DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
K
千
K, 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 Phœnician 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 , §§ 240, 178, 179, 185.
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k
adj : denoting a quantity consisting of 1,000 items or units [syn:
thousand, a thousand, one thousand, 1000, m]
n 1: the basic unit of thermodynamic temperature adopted under
the Systeme International d'Unites [syn: kelvin]
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, atomic number 19]
3: the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100 [syn:
thousand, one thousand, 1000, M, chiliad, G, grand,
thou, yard]
4: a unit of information equal to one thousand (1024) bytes
[syn: kilobyte, KB]
5: the 11th letter of the Roman alphabet
6: street names for ketamine [syn: jet, super acid, special
K, honey oil, green, cat valium, super C]