KLOC

K5L1O1C3
/ˈkeɪlɒk/

proper noun

A surname from Polish.

Scrabble 10

Meanings

KLOC1

nounKLOC (plural KLOCs)

plural KLOCs

  1. abbreviationcomputingAbbreviation of thousand lines of code.

    In IBM there's a religion in software that says you have to count KLOCs, and a KLOC is a thousand line of code.

    1996, Steve Ballmer in Triumph of the Nerds II: Riding the Bear (Robert X. Cringely, Paul Sen), about 38 minutes in, relating events around 1989
    2 more examples

    The formula is based on thousands of lines of source code (kLOC) and incorporates Fagan's recommendations for inspection pace, meeting duration, and frequency: elapsed time (in days) = 3 × n kLOC Here n is an estimate of how many thousands of lines of code will be inspected.

    1991, Glen W. Russell, Experience with Inspection in Ultralarge-Scale Developments (Bell-Northern Research)

    It concludes that defects are found 2 to 4 times faster with inspection than with testing, that defects are typically found at the rate of one defect per man hour invested in inspection, and that inspection finds about 37 defects per kloc if it is done properly.

    1993, Terry Shepard in Proceedings of the National Workshop on Software Engineering Education (IBM Canada)

Kloc2

proper nounKloc (plural Klocs)

plural Klocs

  1. A surname from Polish.

Origin

KLOC · noun

From K (“thousand”) + LOC (“lines of code”).

Full word history & related roots →

Kloc · proper noun

  1. PolishKloc
  2. EnglishKloc

Borrowed from Polish Kloc.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

KLOC. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/KLOC

MLA

“KLOC.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/KLOC. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “KLOC,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/KLOC.

Source: KLOC on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.