Anonymous, you had better be glad you hid your name. Take it from one who knows, it's easier to do a little research and look knowledgeable than to attempt to impress with your "superior intellect," get the matter totally wrong, and look like a moron.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary online tells us the prefix "kilo-" is "French, modification of Greek 'chilioi'," and the Greek word means "thousand."
The metric system was first proposed and adopted in France around the time of the Revolution (proposed 1791 and adopted by the French Revolutionary Assembly in 1795). This is when the prefix was first coined to represent the base measurement unit multiplied by 10 to the third power. Most of the other prefixes are also French derivations from Greek. Other prefixes did in fact come from Latin ("milli-") and, in modern times, the largest-magnitude prefixes derive from, for example, Spanish (pico-) and Danish (femto-).
So those of you who trace the K (meaning here "thousand") to the metric-system prefix "kilo-" are correct.
This is simmilar to the usage in long distance running events. When somebody runs a 5K they mean they are running five kilometers or five thousand meters.
Ivan (unregistered)
July 12, 2004, 10:10pm
It stands for thousand, i don't remember what the y stands for but it's like y 2000 yeah...
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goossun
July 12, 2004, 10:49pm
Y stands for year. Do you mean K stands for "kilo"? The year 2 kilo problem?!!!
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andreas (unregistered)
July 13, 2004, 12:29am
I think Y2K stands for Year 2 Thousand. K as in kilo which means "thousand".
Originally, kilo was just a prefix for "gramme" in "kilogramme" meaing a thousand grammes.
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Armchair Linguist (unregistered)
July 13, 2004, 6:08am
K = 1000
2K = 2000
Y2K = Year 2000
http://comfylinguist.blogspot.com
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Anonymous (unregistered)
July 14, 2004, 2:33am
"Originally, kilo was just a prefix for "gramme" in "kilogramme" meaing a thousand grammes" ??
Survey says: Wrong! Better luck next time :D
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mugwort
July 15, 2004, 2:10pm
There's a whole slew of similar letters standing for prefixes (latin?) that indicate some sort of number.
n=nano = itty bitty. There's an exact itty bitty number, 10 to the negative 9th power
m = milli = 10 to the negative third (1/1000)
capital M = Mega = 10 to the (positive) 6th = 1,000,000
k = kilo = 1000
and so on
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speedwell2
July 15, 2004, 2:52pm
Anonymous, you had better be glad you hid your name. Take it from one who knows, it's easier to do a little research and look knowledgeable than to attempt to impress with your "superior intellect," get the matter totally wrong, and look like a moron.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary online tells us the prefix "kilo-" is "French, modification of Greek 'chilioi'," and the Greek word means "thousand."
The metric system was first proposed and adopted in France around the time of the Revolution (proposed 1791 and adopted by the French Revolutionary Assembly in 1795). This is when the prefix was first coined to represent the base measurement unit multiplied by 10 to the third power. Most of the other prefixes are also French derivations from Greek. Other prefixes did in fact come from Latin ("milli-") and, in modern times, the largest-magnitude prefixes derive from, for example, Spanish (pico-) and Danish (femto-).
So those of you who trace the K (meaning here "thousand") to the metric-system prefix "kilo-" are correct.
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chad
July 18, 2004, 7:10pm
This is simmilar to the usage in long distance running events. When somebody runs a 5K they mean they are running five kilometers or five thousand meters.
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ivy
July 19, 2004, 10:16am
Y = year
2 = uh.. 2..
K = thousand
1KG does equal 1000grams does it not?
So does a kilometer and so on. =)
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