Kilometre

unit of length equal to 1,000 meters

The kilometre is a common unit used for longer distances on Earth. The international unit for measuring distances is the metre and a kilometre is 1000 metres. It is used in most countries for measuring road and sea distances. In the UK and the USA, the statute mile is used more than kilometres for road distances and the nautical mile for sea distances.

Kilometre
Unit systemmetric
Unit oflength
Symbolkm 
Conversions
1 km in ...... is equal to ...
   SI units   1000 m
   imperial/US units   0.62137 mi
3280.8 ft
   nautical units   0.53996 nmi

It is often used to measure the speed of cars, planes and boats by saying how many kilometres it can travel in an hour. This is shown as km/h.

It is also spelled kilometer. This spelling is used in American English.

One kilometre is 0.6214 miles (1093 yards or 3280.84 feet). This means that one mile is 1.6093 kilometres.

One kilometre is the approximate distance a healthy adult human being can walk in ten minute

A kilometer is sometimes called a klick

Related pages change