Meanings
- In the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by a thousand (1000).
Synonyms & antonyms
prefixIn the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by a thousand (1000).
prefixSynonym of kibi- (“multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 2¹⁰ = 1024”).
Origin
- Ancient Greekχίλιοι“one thousand”
- Frenchkilo-
- Englishkilo-
Borrowed from French kilo-, irregularly derived from Ancient Greek χίλιοι (khílioi, “one thousand”). The etymologically "correct" form would be chili- or chilo-, resulting in forms such as chiliasme (“chiliasm”) or chilopode (“centipede”); but the French, when creating the prefix, had to avoid a possible (standard) pronunciation of chi as /ʃi/, too close to the vulgar verb chier (“to shit”).
More words from French, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Basque kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Bulgarian кило-
- кило- (kilo-)prefix
Catalan quilo-, kilo-
- quilo-prefix
- kilo-prefix
Chinese Cantonese 千-
- 千- (cin¹)prefix
Chinese Mandarin 千-
- 千- (qiān-)prefix
Czech kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Danish kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Dutch kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Esperanto kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Estonian kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Finnish kilo-
- kilo-prefix
French kilo-
- kilo-prefix
German kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Greek χιλιό-, χιλιο-
- χιλιό- (chilió-)prefix
- χιλιο- (chilio-)prefix
Hindi सहस्र-
- सहस्र- (sahasra-)prefix
Hungarian kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Icelandic kíló-
- kíló-prefix
Indonesian kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Irish cilea-
- cilea-prefix
Italian chilo-, kilo-
- chilo-prefix
- kilo-prefix
Japanese キロ-
- キロ- (kiro-)prefix
Korean 킬로-
- 킬로- (killo-)prefix
Latvian kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Lithuanian kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Malay kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Norwegian Bokmål kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Polish kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Portuguese quilo-, kilo-
- quilo-prefix
- kilo-prefix
Romanian kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Russian кило-
- кило- (kilo-)prefix
Slovak kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Spanish kilo-, quilo-
- kilo-prefix
- quilo-prefix
- kili-prefix
Swedish kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Tagalog libo-
- libo-prefix
Thai กิโล-
- กิโล- (gì-loo)prefix
Turkish kilo-
- kilo-prefix
Ukrainian кіло-
- кіло- (kilo-)prefix
Vietnamese ki-lô
- ki-lôprefix
Cite this entry
kilo-. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kilo-
“kilo-.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kilo-. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kilo-,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kilo-.
Source: kilo- on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.