km
part of speech
abbreviation (km, short for kilometre/kilometer); also said «k» or «klicks» (casual)
meaning for a pupil
1) Km is the short way to write kilometre, a unit for long distances. 1 km is 1000 metres. tree →
2) Km/h or km per hour is a unit of speed: how many kilometres something goes in one hour. tree →
3) (casual, Australia, NZ, Canada) A «k» or «kay» is a kilometre in speech: «it's 5k to town», «a 10k run». tree →
4) (slang, military) A «klick» is a kilometre. tree →
5) (formal) In official writing km is often spelled out: «a distance of five kilometres». tree →
6) In some book references, KM is a short way of writing the title of Grimm's collection of German fairy tales. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths, a unit of distance; with «per hour» a speed (distance = speed × time). In science and geography, distances between towns and on maps are given in km. In everyday life and safety: road signs, speed limits (in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland in km/h; in the USA and UK in miles). In sport: 5k and 10k fun runs. In casual talk the unit is often dropped («it's like 3 from here»). In the exam voice: «a distance of 3 kilometres is traversed». Phrases: «km away», «km per hour», «km/h», «a 5k», «k's» (Australia).
examples
- The school is 3 km away. tree →
- He drives 60 km an hour. tree →
- She walked 5 km on Monday and 4 km on Tuesday. tree →
- How many metres are in 2 km? tree →
- The speed limit near the school is 40 km/h. tree →
- The marathon is about 42 km long. tree →
- The next town is 15 km away. tree →
- A brisk walk covers about 5 km in an hour. tree →
- ran a 5k this arvo, legs are dead (casual, Australia) tree →
- it's like 3 k's to the beach, we walking or what (casual) tree →
- 2 km?? in this heat? you're having a laugh (rough) tree →
- A cyclist traverses a distance of 18 km at a uniform speed of 12 km/h; determine the duration of the journey. (formal exam) tree →
note
Write km with no s and no dot: 5 km, not 5 kms. Read it as «kilometres». British spelling kilometre, American kilometer. A unit; «km per hour» is a speed (distance = speed × time). Trap: change km and m to the same unit before adding. A mile is longer than a km (about 1.6 km). Casual «5k» in running means 5 km, but «5k» about money means 5000 dollars or pounds — read what it counts. Trap: in casual talk the unit may be left out; it is still km if the people use km.
In the corpora
- A coyote can run at about 65 km per hour, and coyotes are among the real predators of roadrunners.
- The Antarctic ice sheet is over 4 km thick in places and holds about 70 per cent of the world's fresh water.
- The Great Barrier Reef off Australia is about 2,300 km long and is the largest structure built by living things.
- A real roadrunner can run at about 30 km per hour, but a real coyote can run about twice as fast.
- The Earth is about 40,000 km around the equator, and the Greek scholar Eratosthenes estimated this size quite well around 240 BC.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «km» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.