kilometre

UK/kɪˈlɒmɪtə/US/kɪˈlɑmɪtəɹ/

nounA2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,946 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: kilometres

A kilometre is a thousand metres. A little over half a mile, and about twelve minutes of comfortable walking.

This is the British and international spelling, and American English writes kilometer. It is the standard unit for road distance in almost every country except Britain and the United States, which is why British road signs are still in miles while British athletics is in metres. The abbreviation is km, and the pronunciation is disputed even among people who use it every day.

Definitions of kilometre

1nounkilometreA unit of distance equal to one thousand metres.A2+
“The village is four kilometres up the valley.”

Also accepted in games: kilometer

Where it comes from

A kilometre is a thousand measures. French built the word from Greek khilioi, a thousand, and metron, a measure.

French
kilomètre
English, today
kilometre

Built from

μέτρον · Ancient Greek — measure

Borrowed from French kilomètre. From French kilomètre, from Ancient Greek χίλιοι (“thousand”) + μέτρον (“measure”); equivalent to kilo- + metre.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Numbers & Measurement

First appears in chapter 14 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

kilometre in the wild

The square kilometre (square kilometer in American spelling; symbol: km2) is a multiple of the square metre, the SI unit of area or surface area.
Square kilometre
The following is a list of countries and dependencies ranked by population density, sorted by inhabitants per square kilometre or square mile.
List of countries and dependencies by population density
The 20 kilometre race walk is an Olympic athletics event that is competed by both men and women.
20 kilometres race walk
The 50 kilometre race walk was an Olympic athletics event that first appeared in 1932 and made its final Olympic appearance in 2021.
50 kilometres race walk
Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supporting leg must remain straight until the raised leg passes it. 50 kilometres is approximately 31 miles.
50 kilometres race walk

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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