Kilo- is added to some nouns that refer to units of measurement in order to form other nouns referring to units a thousand times bigger.
...100 kilojoules of energy.
...an explosion of around 20 kilotons.
kilo in British English1
(ˈkiːləʊ)
nounWord forms: pluralkilos
short for kilogram, kilometre
kilo in British English2
(ˈkiːləʊ)
noun
communications
a code word for the letter k
kilo- in British English
prefix
1.
denoting 103 (1000)
kilometre
Symbol: k
2.
(in computer technology) denoting 210 (1024): kilobyte: in computer usage, kilo- is restricted to sizes of storage (eg kilobit) when it means 1024; in other computer contexts it retains its usual meaning of 1000
Word origin
from French, from Greek khilioi thousand
kilo in American English
(ˈkiloʊ; ˈkɪloʊ)
nounWord forms: pluralˈkilos
1.
kilogram
2.
kilometer
Word origin
Fr: abbreviated form
kilo- in American English
(ˈkɪloʊ; ˈkɪlə)
one thousand; the factor 103
kilogram
Word origin
Fr < Gr chilioi, thousand < IE base *ĝhéslo-, thousand
Examples of 'kilo' in a sentence
kilo
Some will lose four litres of fluid during the game and four kilos in weight.
The Sun (2014)
The lightest of the slimline laptops weigh barely a kilo.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
By the sixteenth square there was already a kilo of rice on the chess board.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
There is a tendency for people to focus on the number of calories that they can pack into a kilo of weight.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Get a 1.10 kilo bag of oven chips.
The Sun (2011)
She was a female and weighed about 650 kilos.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
That's your weight in kilos divided by the square of your height in metres.
The Sun (2008)
I can lose those three kilos in a week.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
That is expensive to the workers who farm it, for a return of about ten pence a kilo.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The first one showed 128 kilos.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
If they sold, one kilo.
The Sun (2011)
Each bag was eight kilos.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The firm stress that if you check in online and take hand luggage weighing less than ten kilos, there will be no charge.
The Sun (2008)
For the same kind of dough, you could buy a kilo of gold and get a kilo of cocaine thrown in for free.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
It was equal to one kilo of TNT.
The Sun (2015)
Their prices range from 4.20 for a single cigarette to 46 for a kilo of rice.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
He can be because he can be an athletic player, and doesn't need weeks and weeks to lose the kilos.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
World Championships, a chastening experience that led him to add some muscle after noting that those in front of himwere all around ten kilos heavier.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
`'Pueblo de los Muertos sits in this isolated valley ninety kilo- meters from the nearest village," replied Ortiz.
Cussler, Clive INCA GOLD (1994)
Word lists with
kilo
code words
In other languages
kilo
British English: kilo /ˈkiːləʊ/ NOUN
A kilo is a metric unit of weight. One kilogram is a thousand grams, and is equal to 2.2 pounds.