List of acronyms: K

This list contains acronyms, initialisms, and pseudo-blends  that begin with the letter K.

For the purposes of this list:

• acronym = an abbreviation pronounced as if it were a word, e.g., SARS = severe acute respiratory syndrome, pronounced to rhyme with cars
• initialism = an abbreviation pronounced wholly or partly using the names of its constituent letters, e.g., CD = compact disc, pronounced cee dee
• pseudo-blend = an abbreviation whose extra or omitted letters mean that it cannot stand as a true acronym, initialism, or portmanteau (a word formed by combining two or more words).

(a) = acronym, e.g.: SARS – (a) severe acute respiratory syndrome

(i) = initialism, e.g.: CD – (i) compact disc

(p) = pseudo-blend, e.g.: UNIFEM – (p) United Nations Development Fund for Women

(s) = symbol (none of the above, representing and pronounced as something else; for example: MHz – megahertz)

Some terms are spoken as either acronym or initialism, e.g., VoIP, pronounced both as voyp and V-O-I-P.

(Main list of acronyms)

• k – (s) kilo-
• K – (s) kelvin – potassium (Latin kalium) – tanker (aircraft designation code)

K0–9

• K9 – (p) canine police unit

KA

• ka – (s) Georgian language (ISO 639-1 code)
• kA – (s) kiloampere
• Ka – (s) Kamov Design Bureau
• KA – (i) knowledge acquisition – (s) Karnataka (Indian state code)
• KAF – (i/a) Kandahar Air Field
• KAGB (German law) – (i) Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch or the German Capital Investment Code
• kal – (s) Kalaallisut language (ISO 639-2 code)
• kan – (s) Kannada language (ISO 639-2 code)
• KANUKOKA – (a) Kalaallit Nunaanni Kommunit Kattuffiannit (Kalaallisut, "Greenlandic Communities Association")
• KARNAC – (a) Knowledge Aided Retrieval in Activity Context
• KARR – (a) Knight automated roving robot (Knight Rider character)
• kas – (s) Kashmiri language (ISO 639-2 code)
• kat – (s) Georgian language (ISO 639-2 code)
• KATUSA – (a) Korean augmentation to United States Army
• kau – (s) Kanuri language (ISO 639-2 code)
• kaz – (s) Kazakh language (ISO 639-2 code)
• KAZ – (s) Kazakhstan (ISO 3166 trigram)

KB

• KBE – (i) Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• KBO – (i) Kuiper Belt Object
• KBVB – (i) Koninklijke Belgische Voetbalbond (Dutch for Royal Belgian Football Association)

KC

• kC – (s) kilocoulomb
• KCK
  • (i) Kansas City, Kansas
  • Koma Civakên Kurdistan (Kurdish, "Union of Communities in Kurdistan")
• KCL – (i) King's College London
• KCMO – (p) Kansas City, Missouri (pronounced "K-C-Moe")
• KCN - (s) potassium cyanide
• KCS – (s) Kansas City Southern Railway (AAR reporting mark)

KD

• KD – (i) Kawasaki disease – Kraft Dinner

KE

• KE
  • (s) Kenya (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
  • (i) kinetic energy
  • knowledge engineering
• KEDO – (a) Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization
• KEN – (s) Kenya (ISO 3166 trigram)
• KERA – (a) Kentucky Education Reform Act (of 1990)
• kerma – (p) kinetic energy released in material / in matter / per unit mass
• KERS - (a) kinetic energy recovery system (pronounced Kah-Z)
• KES
  • (s) Kenyan shilling (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • (i) Killer Elite Squad (Japanese professional wrestling stable)
• KESR – (i) Kent and East Sussex Railway
• KET
  • (i) Kentucky Educational Television
  • (a) Key English Test

KF

• kF – (s) kilofarad
• KFC – (i) Kentucky Fried Chicken
• KFOR – (p) UN Kosovo Force
• KFUPM – King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals

KG

• kg – (s) kilogram – Kongo language (ISO 639-1 code)
• KG
  • (s) Kyrgyzstan (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
  • (s) Knight of the Order of the Garter
• KGB – (i) Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Russian "Committee for State Security") (1954–1991)
• KGO – Knight of the Guelphic Order of Hanover
• KGS – (s) Kyrgyz som (ISO 4217 currency code)
• KGZ – (s) Kyrgyzstan (ISO 3166 trigram)

KH

• kH – (s) kilohenry
• KH – (s) Cambodia (ISO 3166 digram)
• khm – (s) Khmer language (ISO 639-2 code)
• KHL – (i) Kontinental Hockey League
• KHM – (s) Cambodia (ISO 3166 trigram)
• KHP — (s) Honorary Physician to the King (UK)
• KHR – (s) Cambodian riel (ISO 4217 currency code)
• KHz – (s) kilohertz

KI

• ki – (s) Gikuyu language (ISO 639-1 code)
• Ki – (s) Kibi
• KI – (s) Kiribati (ISO 3166 digram)
• KIA – (i) killed in action
• kik – (s) Gikuyu language (ISO 639-2 code), common typo for LOL
• kin – (s) Kinyarwanda language (ISO 639-2 code)
• kir – (s) Kyrgyz language (ISO 639-2 code)
• KIR – (s) Kiribati (ISO 3166 trigram)
• KISS – (a) keep it simple, stupid / keep it short and simple – Korean Intelligence Support System
• KITECH – (p) Korean Institute of Industrial Technology
• KITT – (a) Knight Industries Two Thousand – Knight Industries Three Thousand

KJ

• kj – (s) Kuanyama language (ISO 639-1 code)
• kJ – (s) kilojoule

KK

• kk – (s) Kazakh language (ISO 639-1 code)
• kK – (s) kilokelvin
• KK
  • (i) Kabushiki kaisha (Japanese for "stock company", found in the legal names of countless Japanese corporations)
  • Košarkarski klub (Slovenian), Košarkaški Klub (Croatian and Serbian in Latin script), Кошаркашки клуб (Serbian Cyrillic), Krepšinio Klubas (Lithuanian); all mean "Basketball Club", as in KK Olimpija, KK Cibona, KK Partizan, and KK Atletas
• KKK – (i) Ku Klux Klan

KL

• kl – (s) Kalaallisut language (ISO 639-1 code)
• kL – (s) kilolitre
• KL – (i) Kuala Lumpur – (s) Kerala (Indian state code)
• KLENOT – (p) KLEť observatory near Earth and other unusual objects observations team and telescope
• KLM – (i) Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (Dutch "Royal Dutch Airlines")
• KLOC – (a) kilo lines of code
• KLS
  • (i) Kleine–Levin syndrome
  • Košarkaška liga Srbije (Latin) or Кошаркашка лига Србије (Cyrillic) (Serbian, "Basketball League of Serbia")
  • Kuala Lumpur Sentral

KM

• km – (s) Khmer language (ISO 639-1 code) – kilometre
• KM – (s) Comoros – (i) knowledge management
• KMF – (s) Comoro franc (ISO 4217 currency code)
• KMFDM – (i) Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit (German "No pity for the majority" music band)
• KMR – (i) Kwajalein Missile Range

KN

• kn – (s) Kannada language (ISO 639-1 code)
• kN – (s) kilonewton
• KN – (s) Democratic People's Republic of Korea (FIPS 10-4 country code) – Saint Kitts and Nevis (ISO 3166 digram)
• KNA – (s) Saint Kitts and Nevis (ISO 3166 trigram)
• KNVB – (i) Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbal Bond (Dutch for Royal Dutch Football Association)

KO

• ko – (s) Korean language (ISO 639-1 code)
• KO – (i) Knocked Out
• kom – (s) Komi language (ISO 639-2 code)
• kon – (s) Kongo language (ISO 639-2 code)
• kor – (s) Korean language (ISO 639-2 code)
• KOR – (s) Republic of Korea (ISO 3166 trigram)

KP

• KP – (i) Kim Possible
• KPMG – (i) Klynveld, Peat, Marwick, Goerdeler
• KPNO – (i) Kitt Peak National Observatory
• KPV – (i) Krupnokaliberniy Pulemet Vladimorova (Russian КПВТ Крупнокалиберный Пулемет Владимирова, "Large-Calibre Machinegun Vladimirov")[1]
• KPVT – (i) Krupnokaliberniy Pulemet Vladimorova Tankoviy (Russian КПВТ Крупнокалиберный Пулемет Владимирова Танковый, "Large-Calibre Machinegun Vladimirov Tank")[2]
• KPW – (s) North Korean won (ISO 4217 currency code)
• K–Pg – (i) Cretaceous–Paleogene Boundary
• K/Pg – (i) Cretaceous/Paleogene Boundary

KQ

• KQ – (s) Kenya Airways (IATA airline designator) – Kingman Reef (FIPS 10-4 territory code)

KR

• kr – (s) Kanuri language (ISO 639-1 code)
• Kr – (s) Krypton
• KR – (s) Kiribati (FIPS 10-4 country code) – Republic of Korea (ISO 3166 digram)
• KRW – (s) South Korean won (ISO 4217 currency code)

KS

• ks
  • (s) Kashmiri language (ISO 639-1 code)
  • kilosecond
• kS – (s) kilosiemens
• KS
  • (s) Kansas (postal symbol)
  • Republic of Korea (FIPS 10-4 country code)
• KSC – (i) Kennedy Space Center
• KSI – (i) Killed or Seriously Injured
• KSM
  • (i) Korean Service Medal
  • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
• KSU
  • (i) Kansas State University
  • Kennesaw State University

KT

• kT – (s) kilotesla
• KT – (s) Christmas Island (FIPS 10-4 territory code) – (i) Knight of the Order of the Thistle – Knights Templar
• K–T – (i) Cretaceous–Tertiary Boundary
• K/T – (i) Cretaceous/Tertiary Boundary
• KTS – (i) Knight of the Tower and Sword (of Portugal)

KU

• ku – (s) Kurdish language (ISO 639-1 code)
• KU
  • (s) Kuwait (FIPS 10-4 country code)
  • (i/p) University of Kansas
• kua – (s) Kuanyama language (ISO 639-2 code)
• KUL – (i) Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Flemish, Catholic University of Leuven)
• kur – (s) Kurdish language (ISO 639-2 code)
• KUW – (s) Kuwait (UNDP country code, IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166)

KV

• kv – (s) Komi language (ISO 639-1 code)
• kV – (s) kilovolt
• KV - (s) Kosovo
• KV – (s) Kavminvodyavia (IATA airline designator) – (i) Kendriya Vidhyalaya (Indian school) – Kliment Voroshilov (tanks) – Köchel-Verzeichnis (Mozart catalogue) – Valley of the Kings (originally "Kings' Valley")
• KVM – (i) Keyboard, Video, Mouse switch
• KVT – (i) Killer-Victim Table (military simulations)

KW

• kw – (s) Cornish language (ISO 639-1 code)
• kW – (s) kilowatt
• KW – (s) Kuwait (ISO 3166 digram)
• KWB – Kids' WB!
• KWD – (s) Kuwaiti dinar (ISO 4217 currency code)
• KWT – (s) Kuwait (ISO 3166 trigram)

KX

• KX – (s) Cayman Airways (IATA airline designator)

KY

• ky – (s) Kyrgyz language (ISO 639-1 code)
• KY
  • (s) Cayman Islands (ISO 3166 digram)
  • Kentucky (postal symbol)
• KYD – (s) Cayman Islands dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
• KYTC – (p) Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

KZ

• KZ – (s) Kazakhstan (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
• KZN – (i) KwaZulu-Natal
• KZT – (s) Kazakh tenge (ISO 4217 currency code)