Kilometern

Kilometern is the dative plural form of the German noun Kilometer, the unit of length equal to 1000 meters. In German, Kilometer is a masculine noun, and its dative plural is Kilometern, used when the noun appears in a dative construction such as mit Kilometern or in Kilometern gemessen.

Origin and meaning

The meter, the base unit of length in the international metric system, is the origin of the kilometer. The prefix kilo- comes from the Greek kilo, meaning thousand, so kilometer denotes one thousand meters. The kilometer is a derived unit of length widely used for measuring long distances, especially in travel, geography, and cartography. The standard abbreviation is km.

Usage and conventions

Kilometer distances are ubiquitous in everyday German, on maps, road signs, and scientific contexts. Grammatically, Kilometern appears when the noun is in the dative plural, for example: „Wir messen die Strecke in Kilometern“ (We measure the distance in kilometers). In the nominative and accusative plural, the form remains Kilometer. The term is generally written with lowercase km when abbreviated, and with capital K when spelled out as a word in German.

Global context

The kilometer is used worldwide and is part of the meter-kilometer system that dominates most countries' road networks and scientific communications. In non-German contexts, the unit is also widely recognized, with the same length equivalent (1 km = 1000 m). Spelling variations exist in other languages, such as kilometre in British English, but the underlying standard remains 1000 meters per kilometer.

See also

Kilometer, Kilometer (unit) and Kilometre (spelling variant in other dialects).