12-letter words containing p, e, n, k
- keeping room — hall (def 11).
- ken thompson — (person) The principal inventor of the Unix operating system and author of the B language, the predecessor of C. In the early days Ken used to hand-cut Unix distribution tapes, often with a note that read "Love, ken". Old-timers still use his first name (sometimes uncapitalised, because it's a login name and mail address) in third-person reference; it is widely understood (on Usenet in particular) that without a last name "Ken" refers only to Ken Thompson. Similarly, Dennis without last name means Dennis Ritchie (and he is often known as dmr). Ken was first hired to work on the Multics project, which was a huge production with many people working on it. Multics was supposed to support hundreds of on-line logins but could barely handle three. In 1969, when Bell Labs withdrew from the project, Ken got fed up with Multics and went off to write his own operating system. People said "well, if zillions of people wrote Multics, then an OS written by one guy must be Unix!". There was some joking about eunichs as well. Ken's wife Bonnie and son Corey (then 18 months old) went to visit family in San Diego. Ken spent one week each on the kernel, file system, etc., and finished UNIX in one month along with developing SPACEWAR (or was it "Space Travel"?). See also back door, brute force, demigod, wumpus.
- keraunograph — an instrument for recording thunderstorms by detecting the radio waves generated
- ketone group — the characteristic group occurring in ketones that consists of the carbonyl group attached to two alkyl groups.
- keystone kop — Usually, Keystone Kops. (in early silent movies) a team of comic policemen noted for their slapstick routines.
- kidney punch — an illegal punch in the lower back.
- kindred-ship — a person's relatives collectively; kinfolk; kin.
- kinesipathic — of or relating to kinesipathy
- kinesophobia — Fear of movement.
- kinetography — a camera for taking pictures for a kinetoscope.
- kinetoplasts — Plural form of kinetoplast.
- king penguin — a large penguin, Aptenodytes patagonicus, found on islands bordering the Antarctic Circle.
- king's peace — (in early medieval England) the protection secured by the king for particular people or places
- kitchen soap — heavy-duty soap intended for use in the kitchen
- kleptomaniac — a person who has kleptomania.
- klipspringer — a small, agile African antelope, Oreotragus oreotragus, of mountainous regions from the Cape of Good Hope to Ethiopia.
- knee-capping — Knee-capping is the act of shooting someone in the knee and is carried out by some terrorist organizations as a form of punishment.
- knee-slapper — a joke evoking boisterous hilarity.
- kupfernickel — (archaic) cupronickel.
- lake nipigon — a lake in central Canada, in NW Ontario, draining into Lake Superior via the Nipigon River. Area: 4843 sq km (1870 sq miles)
- lepenski vir — the site of an advanced Mesolithic fishing culture on the banks of the Danube in Serbia, characterized by trapezoidal buildings and large stone sculptures of human heads and torsos.
- locker plant — an establishment for storing food under refrigeration, containing lockers for renting to individual users.
- marlinespike — a pointed iron implement used in separating the strands of rope in splicing, marling, etc.
- marlingspike — Alternative spelling of marlinspike.
- masking tape — an easily removed adhesive tape used temporarily for defining margins, protecting surfaces, etc., as when painting, and sometimes also for binding, sealing, or mending.
- meat packing — the business or industry of slaughtering cattle and other meat animals and processing the carcasses for sale, sometimes including the packaging of processed meat products.
- meroplankton — a floating mass of eggs and larvae of organisms that are nektonic or benthic in their adult stage; temporary plankton.
- mesoplankton — plankton that live at middle depths.
- mullein pink — rose campion.
- nickel plate — thin coating of nickel
- nickel-plate — to coat with nickel by electroplating or other process.
- nordkyn cape — Cape, a cape in N Norway, E of North Cape: northernmost point of the European mainland.
- nosey parker — a persistently nosy, prying person; busybody.
- oak-panelled — having panels that are made of oak
- open desktop — (operating system, product) A Motif-based graphical interface from the Santa Cruz Operation (SCO), built over their Unix environment, part of the ACE initiative. Also known as "Open DeathTrap".
- orange pekoe — a black tea composed of the smallest top leaves and grown in India and Ceylon.
- packed lunch — A packed lunch is food, for example sandwiches, which you take to work, to school, or on a trip and eat as your lunch.
- packing case — a box in which goods are packed for transport or storage.
- packinghouse — a building where foodstuffs are packed
- pale-skinned — having pale skin
- pallet knife — a small, flat utensil for picking up and handling pastry paste.
- pancake coil — a coil (of wire, etc) wound in a flat circular shape
- pancake roll — A pancake roll is an item of Chinese food consisting of a small roll of thin crisp pastry filled with vegetables and sometimes meat.
- paper napkin — a napkin or serviette made from tissue paper
- paring knife — a short-bladed kitchen knife for paring fruits and vegetables.
- parking fine — penalty fee for an offence
- passion week — the week preceding Easter; Holy Week.
- pathbreaking — pertaining to blazing a trail or path.
- pattern book — collection of textile motifs or designs
- patternmaker — a person who makes patterns, as for clothing or metal castings.