the eleventh letter of the alphabet in English and other modern languages, was an original letter of the Roman alphabet, taken from the Greek Kappa Κ, originally [symbol], from Phœnician and general Semitic Kaph [symbol]. Its sound in Greek and Latin was, as in English, that of the back voiceless stop consonant, or guttural tenuis. But at an early period of Latin orthography, the letter C (originally representing Greek Gamma) was employed for the k sound, and the letter K itself fell into disuse, except in a few words, notably the term Kalendæ and the prænomen Kæso, where the traditional abbreviations Kal. and K. kept up the memory of the archaic spelling. But, with the exception of such archaisms, C became the regular Latin symbol of the k sound, and, as such, was substituted for Greek Kappa when Greek words were latinized, as in Κίμων, Κῦρος, κόμμα, Cīmōn, Cȳrus, comma. In late Latin, when the sound of C before a front vowel had become palatalized, or passed over to (tſ), as in Italian cento, città, the same fate befell the C of latinized Greek words, such as Cyrus; but later Greek words in living (esp. Christian) use such as kȳrie eleïson (κύριε ἐλέησον), which retained the Greek pronunciation, continued to be written with K. To Latin scribes of the sixth, seventh and eighth centuries, K was thus known as a supplementary letter to C, of use in Greek or other foreign words which had the ‘hard’ or k sound of C before e, i or y. Hence it was naturally put to use in the writing of Old High German, Old Saxon, Old Frankish, Early Italian, and some dialects of Old French, in which a k sound came before e, i or y. In writing these languages, C was usually employed, as in Latin, before a, o, u, or finally; but in practice there was considerable overlapping, with the final result that, in German, K ousted C, and is now the proper letter for this sound in that language, as well as in Dutch and all the Scandinavian tongues; while, in French, K was ousted partly by C, partly by Qu, according to derivation. (Thus Old Northern French kanon, karole, katre, ke, ki, kel, became later canon, carole, quatre, que, qui, quel.) So 13th c. It. ke, ki, perké, became later che, chi, perchè.
In the Romano-British alphabet, K was, as in Latin, of rare use, and was not adopted as a regular letter in Welsh or Irish; though, as being quite familiar to Latin scribes, it was occasionally written as a casual variant of C. In Old English, the original Teutonic k-sound was already in the earliest times fronted or palatalized before original front vowels (not the umlauts of back vowels), and for this variety of sound (ky, ky) a distinct symbol was provided in the Runic alphabet. Yet, in the OE. use of the Roman alphabet, both the guttural and the palatal sound were represented by C, although in the practice of individual scribes K was by no means infrequent for the guttural, especially in positions where C would have been liable to be taken as palatal, or would at least have been ambiguous, as in such words as Kent, kéne, kennan, akenned, kynn, kyning, kyðed, folkes, céak, þicke. But, even in these cases, C was much more usual down to the 11th century; and K can be regarded only as a supplemental symbol occasionally used instead of C for the guttural sound. After the Conquest, however, the Norman usage gradually prevailed, in accordance with which C was retained for the original guttural only before a, o, u, l, r, and K was substituted for the same sound before e, i, y, and (later) n; while the palatalized OE. c, now advanced to tſ, was written Ch. Hence, in native words, initial K now appears only before e, i, y (y being moreover usually merged in i), and before n (:—OE. cn-), where it is no longer pronounced in Standard English, though retained in some dialects. Medially and finally, k is used after a consonant (ask, dark, twinkle), or long vowel (make, hawk, like, speak, week); after a short vowel, ck is used instead of cc or kk, but the unstressed suffix, formerly -ick (musick), is now ic, though, when a suffix in e or i follows, k reappears (traffic, trafficker, trafficking).
The native K words, being thus confined to Ke-, Ki-, Kn- (with one or two from the dialects in Ka-, Ky-), are a small company. But their number is greatly reinforced by the foreign words of recent adoption, many of them very imperfectly naturalized, with which this letter is crowded. These include a few modern European words, Germanic or Slavonic; but they consist mainly of names of animals, plants, trade products, and native offices, from Oriental, African, American, Australian and Oceanic languages. The number of these words is augmented by reason of the fact that some of those languages have two, or even three, distinct gutturals, for which, in ordinary English spelling, K has to stand; the combination Kh is similarly put for several fricative and aspirated sounds in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Hindī, and other tongues. (See the individual words, in the etymology of which the actual origin of the letter is stated.) In giving these words English hospitality, it was formerly usual to follow English analogies and write C before a, o, u, l, r, h; but the more recent tendency has been to favor the use of K in these positions also; giving the non-English initial combinations Ka-, Kh-, Kl-, Ko-, Kr-, Ku-, by which the uncouth or barbarous character of the words is more strongly suggested. Thus cadi, Caffre, caique, Calmuck, Can (Chan, Cham), cloof, Coran, creese, cummerbund, now more frequently appear as kadi, Kaffir, kaik, Kalmuk, Khan, kloof, Koran, kris, kamarband.
In words from Greek also, many prefer to retain K, instead of latinizing it to C; and this spelling is generally accepted in some words of recent formation, as kaleidoscope, kamptulicon, katabolism, kinetic, kudos, while in others, as kainozoic, kakodyle, krasis, C and K still struggle for predominance. In a very few words (not of English formation), K represents Greek χ, esp. in the words in kilo-, as kilogramme, kilometre, etc.
1. The letter. The plural appears as Ks, K’s, ks, k’s. (Although now generally pronounced (kēi), the pronunciation (kī) was formerly also current.)
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., iii. (Z.), 6. B, c, d, g, p, t ʓeendiað on e. h and k ʓeendiað on a æfter rihte. q ʓeendað on u.
1552. Huloet, s.v., Latin wordes begynninge with K be verye rare.
1573–80. Baret, Alv. K Is borrowed of the Greekes: and in writing of our English standeth vs in verie much stead.
c. 1620. Hume, Brit. Tongue, 14. Behind the voual, if a consonant kep it, we sound it [c] alwayes as a k.
1674. Ray, Coll. Words, Err. Alphab. (E. D. S.), 25. C … if we use it in its proper power … differs not at all from k.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 17 Aug., 6/2. She says women have no business to interfere with anything outside the four K’s … The four K’s are—‘Kinder, Kirche, Küche, and Kleider—children, church, kitchen, and dress.’
attrib. 1887. Skeat, Princ. Etymol., I. 354. The substantive Care preserves the k-sound.
1900. R. S. Conway, in Contemp. Rev., Feb., 270. All the k-languages are spoken by peoples living either in the East of Europe or in Asia. Ibid., 272. The distribution of the k-peoples does not concern us here.
2. Used, like the other letters of the alphabet, to express serial order, as in numbering the sheets or quires of a book, lettering parts of a figure, enumerating items of a list, etc.; the successive groups or sections of a classification; the companies of a military force; the batteries of the Royal Artillery; the different MSS. of a work, etc.
In serial order K is the 11th or 10th member, according as J is or is not reckoned as a member of the series (see J).
3. In Chem. K is the symbol for Potassium (mod.L. kalium). It was formerly used to designate a compound of gold (Syd. Soc. Lex.). In Meteorol. K = cumulus. In Assaying, etc., K = carat. In Astron. k designates Gauss’s Constant, the square of which is a measure of the mass of the sun. For k in Quaternions, see I (the letter) 6; in Cryst. see H 7.
1853. Sir W. R. Hamilton, Lect. Quaternions, 59. Let i, j, k, denote three straight lines equally long, but differently directed [etc.].
1886. Encycl. Brit., XX. 161/2. The fundamental i, j, k of quaternions.
4. K. is an abbreviation, a. for some Christian names, as Kate, Katherine, Kenneth. b. for King: formerly used alone; now usually in comb., as K.B., King’s Bench; K.C., King’s Counsel, King’s College; K.Q., ‘King and queen’ iron. c. for Knight (standing alone Kt.); in K.B., Knight Bachelor; K.C.B., Knight Commander of the Bath; K.C.S.I., Knight Commander of the Star of India; K.G., Knight of the Garter; K.C.M.G., Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George; K.G.C.B., Knight Grand Cross of the Bath; K.H., Knight of Hanover (Obs.); K.P., Knight of the Order of St. Patrick; K.T., Knight of the Order of the Thistle, etc. d. Electro-physiol. = Kathode (also ka.), Kathodic, in K.C.C., kathodic closure contraction, K.C.Te., kathodic closure tetanus, K.D.T., kathodic duration tetanus, K.O.C., kathodic opening contraction (Syd. Soc. Lex.). e. kg. = kilogramme; km. = kilometre.
1614. Selden, Titles Hon., 5. Where Moses speaks of Amraphel K. of Sinaghr, the Paraphrase of Onkelos hath expresly K. of Babel.
1623. Shakspere’s 2 Hen. IV., I. ii. 86. Doth not the K. lack subiects? Do not the Rebels want Soldiers?
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), V. 213. It was resolved by the Court of K. B.
1826. Sporting Mag., XVIII. 391. They are manufactured from scrap iron (the best K. Q., or King and Queen as it is called).
1833. Byron’s Wks. (1846), 584/2. Any list of K. B.’s or K. H.’s.
1851. ‘Nimrod,’ The Road, 11. Axle trees of the best K. Q. iron.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 21 March, 7/1. A movable drum weighing 21/2 kg…. A line of 23 km. length.
1899. Besant, Orange Girl, II. xi. 244. Mr. Caterham, K.C., our senior counsel, was reported to be the best man at the Old Bailey Bar.
1899. Miss G. Palgrave, F. T. Palgrave, 1. Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H., Deputy Keeper of Her Majesty’s Records.
Hence K.C.B.-ship, and the like; K.C.B. v. nonce-wd., to invest with the order of K.C.B.
1881. W. Black, Beautiful Wretch, I. 24. [He] had got his K.C.B.-ship for long service in India.
1886. Athenæum, 3 April, 456/3. In 1869 [he] accepted a K.C.M.G.ship in lieu of the peerage he had hoped for.
1892. Temple Bar Mag., Sept., 127. He was K.C.B.’d the other day.
