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KILOMETER

1 kilometre =
International units
1000 m 1 km
1×106 mm 10×1012 Å
6.685×10−9 AU 105.702×10−15 LY
US customary units
39.37×103 in 3280.84 ft
1093.613 yd 0.621 mi


"km" redirects here. For other uses, see KM.

A kilometre (US spelling: kilometer; symbol: km) is a unit of length that is equal to 1,000 metres, the current International System of Units (SI) base unit of length. The kilometre is part of a metric system. A corresponding unit of area is the square kilometre and a corresponding unit of volume is the cubic kilometre.

Slang terms for kilometre include "klick" (sometimes spelt "click" or "klik") and "kay" (or "k"). These non-standard terms can also refer to kilometres per hour, which itself is abbreviated as either km/h or kph.

In English, the word "kilometre" is often pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, unlike other SI units (such as kilogram) where the stress is placed on the first syllable.

hectometre << kilometre << megametre

Contents

Equivalence to other units of length

1 kilometre is equal to:

  • 1,000 metres (1 metre is equal to 0.001 kilometres)
  • about 0.621 statute miles (1 statute mile is equal to about 1.609 kilometres)
  • about 1,094 international yards (1 international yard is equal to about 0.000914 kilometres)
  • about 3,281 feet (1 foot is equal to about 0.000305 kilometres)

International usage

Virtually all countries of the world utilise the kilometre as a standard measure of distance, particularly on road network signage to indicate distances to cities, towns, villages and suburbs etc. The USA is gradually kilometerising its road signage, but given the magnitude of the country and the sheer amount of signage to be altered or replaced, it is likely to take another generation until the project is complete, even though the USA is officially a nonmetricated nation.[citation needed]

The main exception to the use of the kilometre as a standard notation of distance is the UK, which has no immediate intention of replacing the mile in the near future, a decision borne mainly out of the British public's attachment to traditional 'imperial' units of distance, ie, miles, yards and inches. Unlike the USA, the UK officially adopts the metric measurement system, so the continuing use of the mile is somewhat of an oddity. It is possible that at some point in the future, the European Union's Commission may apply pressure upon the UK to conform with the rest of its member states in adopting the kilometre on all of its road signage. Aside from the UK, only Liberia and Burma (Myanmar) continue to use the mile.

Sprint cycling is commonly held over a 1 kilometre distance. The kilometre run is a middle distance track event.

Unicode symbols

For the purposes of compatibility with Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) characters, Unicode has symbols for:

They are useful only with East Asian fixed-width CJK fonts, because they are equal in size to one Chinese character.

See also