2006-10-27 02:47:50 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
"K" is the abbreviation of "Kilo" which is an anglicised spelling of the Greek word "χίλιοι" (phonetically "khilioi"), which means thousand.
"M" on the other hand is the abbreviation for "Mille", a Latin expression which is equal to the numerical value of one thousand. It is a root for many words including millennium and millipede.
The Kilo was officially adopted in the SI systems of units to denote 1000 in 1795. This gave it the edge over "Mille" within the scientific community, and as science and technology have come to play an ever larger part in our lives, "K" has come to be the dominant form in our language.
2006-10-27 03:13:03 · answer #1 · answered by Johnny X 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
For Kilo which means 1000
2006-10-27 09:49:13 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Because it comes from the classical Greek Ïίλιοι (khilioi)
which means a thousand.
More details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilo
2006-10-27 10:00:14 · answer #3 · answered by quicker 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
K is in reference to the metric 'Kilo' which denotes a thousand.
M is latin based.
2006-10-27 09:50:09 · answer #4 · answered by Marcus 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The above answer mentioned by one is correct
2006-10-27 09:50:23 · answer #5 · answered by king 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
ah the joys of the metric system.
2006-10-27 10:10:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Why "M", should it not be "T"???
2006-10-28 18:34:18 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋