Acceptable as an abbreviation for thousand when space is tight—but only if the meaning is clear, since it can also stand for kilobytes, kilobits, and kilograms. Don’t include a space between the number and K. Example: Toddler Finds $100K in Trash Bin.
Word List
The Yahoo! Word List
The Yahoo! word list covers terms related to communications, technology, branding, and other topics that our U.S. editors have encountered frequently. Following is a healthy sampling of the full Yahoo! word list. (We update the online list quarterly—see what’s new.)
These are the decisions that Yahoo! has come to after years of writing and editing for the Web. You may naturally make different choices and have different entries, but our word list can be useful as a springboard or as an additional reference.
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K
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KB
Abbreviation for kilobyte. All capitals. Don’t include a space between the number and KB.
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Kbps
Abbreviation for kilobits per second. Note capitalization—especially the lowercase b, which distinguishes this from KBps, a different measurement. Don’t include a space between the number and the abbreviation. Example: Imagine connecting to the Internet with a dial-up connection as slow as 14.4Kbps. See also “KBps.”
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KBps
Abbreviation for kilobytes per second. Note capitalization—especially uppercase B, which distinguishes this from Kbps, a different measurement. Don’t include a space between the number and the abbreviation.
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keylogger, keylogging (n.)
Short for keystroke logger, keystroke logging. A keylogger is a tool that can log (record) people’s keystrokes as they type; for example, to steal sensitive information such as user names and passwords.
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keyword, key word (n.)
One word when referring to terms that are used on a webpage to optimize it for search engines. Use two words in other cases—for example, when key is a synonym for primary or most important. Examples: An SEO specialist can help you determine the best keywords to use on your webpage so that your page will appear in search results when people search on those words. She heard little else that he said; the key word in the sentence was “love.”
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kg
Acceptable abbreviation for kilogram(s). Include a space between the number and kg. For information about when it’s OK to use the abbreviation, see “Units of Measure.”
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kHz
Abbreviation for kilohertz. Note capitalization. Don’t include a space between the number and kHz.
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kilobyte
OK to abbreviate as KB.
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kilogram
An acceptable abbreviation for kilogram(s) is kg (no period).
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kiloliter
An acceptable abbreviation for kiloliter(s) is kl (no period).
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kilometers per hour
An acceptable abbreviation is km/h (no periods).
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kl
Acceptable abbreviation for kiloliter(s). Include a space between the number and kl. For information about when it’s OK to use the abbreviation, see “Units of Measure.”
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km
Acceptable abbreviation for kilometer(s). Include a space between the number and km. For information about when it’s OK to use the abbreviation, see “Units of Measure.”
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km/h
Acceptable abbreviation for kilometers per hour. Include a space between the number and km/h.
Build your own word list
A word list is an important part of a site’s style guide. It tracks your decisions, helps you enforce them to maintain your site’s voice and editorial standards, and keeps editors from having to make the same kinds of decisions over and over again—possibly coming to contradictory conclusions each time.
Build your own word list
