The kilometre (International spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: km; /ˈkɪləmiːtə/ or /kɪˈlɒmɪtə/) or kilometer (American spelling) is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for 7003100000000000000♠1000). It is now the measurement unit used officially for expressing distances between geographical places on land in most of the world; notable exceptions are the United States and the road network of the United Kingdom where the statute mile is the official unit used.

k (pronounced /keɪ/) is occasionally used in some English-speaking countries as an alternative for the word kilometre in colloquial writing and speech. A slang term for the kilometre in the US military is klick.

Pronunciation

There are two common pronunciations for the word.

The former follows a pattern in English whereby metric units are pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, and the pronunciation of the actual base unit does not change irrespective of the prefix. It is generally preferred by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 1 kilometre and 10 kilometres (10³ and 10⁴metres).

Conversions

1 kilometre (unit symbol km) is equal to:

Human-defined scales and structures

Eightmile, Eight Mile, 8 Mile, or variant, may refer to:

See also