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 edit

K9 – (p) Canine Police Unit

KA edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

KD – (i) Kawasaki Disease – Kraft Dinner

KE edit

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 edit

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

KG edit

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 edit

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 edit

ki – (s) Gikuyu language (ISO 639-1 code)
Ki – (s) Kibi
KI – (s) Kiribati (ISO 3166 digram)
KIA – (i) Killed In Action
KIDS – (a) Knowledge-based Integrated Design System
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
KIT – Keep In Touch

KJ edit

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

KK edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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")
KPVT – (i) Krupnokaliberniy Pulemet Vladimorova Tankoviy (Russian КПВТ Крупнокалиберный Пулемет Владимирова Танковый, "Large-Calibre Machinegun Vladimirov Tank")
KPW – (s) North Korean won (ISO 4217 currency code)
K–Pg – (i) Cretaceous–Paleogene Boundary
K/Pg – (i) Cretaceous/Paleogene Boundary

KQ edit

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

KR edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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

KY edit

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 edit

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