12-letter words starting with k
- k'ang yu-wei — 1858–1927, Chinese scholar and reformer.
- k'ung fu-tse — Chinese name of Confucius.
- k'ung fu-tzu — Chinese name of Confucius.
- k/t boundary — Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary: the time zone comprising the end of the Cretaceous and the beginning of the Tertiary periods
- kachina doll — a Hopi Indian doll carved from cottonwood root in representation of a kachina and given as a gift to a child or used as a household decoration.
- kaffeeklatch — Alternative spelling of coffee klatch.
- kakistocracy — government by the worst persons; a form of government in which the worst persons are in power.
- kaleidophone — an instrument, invented by Professor Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875), consisting of a light on a vibrating rod with a reflecting knob for exhibiting the effect of sound waves
- kaleidoscope — an optical instrument in which bits of glass, held loosely at the end of a rotating tube, are shown in continually changing symmetrical forms by reflection in two or more mirrors set at angles to each other.
- kalmar sound — a strait between SE Sweden and Öland Island. 85 miles (137 km) long; 14 miles (23 km) wide.
- kamehameha i — ("the Great") 1737?–1819, king of the Hawaiian Islands 1810–19.
- kanchenjunga — a mountain in S Asia, between NE India and Nepal, in the E Himalayas: third highest in the world. 28,169 feet (8586 meters).
- kangaroo dog — an Australian breed of large rough-haired dog that resembles a greyhound and is bred to hunt kangaroos
- kangaroo paw — any plant of the Australian genus Anigozanthos, resembling a kangaroo's paw, esp the red-and-green flowered A. manglesii, which is the floral emblem of Western Australia: family Haemodoraceae
- kangaroo rat — any of various small jumping rodents of the family Heteromyidae, of Mexico and the western U.S.
- karlovy vary — a city in W Czech Republic: mineral springs; Carlsbad Decrees (1819).
- karmadharaya — a compound of two words in which the first is an adjective and the second a substantive, as blackbird, gentleman, or grandson.
- karnaugh map — A Karnaugh map is a pictorial method used to minimize Boolean expressions without having to use Boolean algebra theorems.
- karyokinesis — mitosis.
- karyokinetic — Of or pertaining to karyokinesis.
- karyomapping — a technique for determining whether an embryo has inherited a genetic defect by analysing DNA taken from it and its close relatives
- kashmir goat — one of a long-haired breed of goat raised in Tibet and the higher elevations of China, the Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan, and Turkey for its meat, milk, and cashmere wool.
- katamorphism — metamorphism at or near the earth's surface: breaks down complex minerals into simpler ones.
- kath and kim — a personification of the White population of middle Australia
- katharevousa — The purist form of modern Greek used in traditional literary writing, as opposed to the form that is spoken and used in everyday writing (called demotic).
- katharometer — (science) A device used for analyzing gas mixtures by measuring their thermal conductivity.
- katzenjammer — the discomfort and illness experienced as the aftereffects of excessive drinking; hangover.
- kavir desert — Dasht-e-Kavir.
- keep company — a number of individuals assembled or associated together; group of people.
- keep in mind — (in a human or other conscious being) the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.: the processes of the human mind.
- keep in with — to hold or retain in one's possession; hold as one's own: If you like it, keep it. Keep the change.
- keep it real — avoid affectation
- keep tabs on — a small flap, strap, loop, or similar appendage, as on a garment, used for pulling, hanging, or decoration.
- keep up with — go as fast
- keeping room — hall (def 11).
- keitai tanka — a 31-syllable Japanese poem, composed and distributed using a mobile phone
- kelvin scale — William Thomson, 1st Baron, 1824–1907, English physicist and mathematician.
- 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.
- kendal green — a coarse woolen cloth, green in color.
- kenny method — a method of treating poliomyelitis, in which hot, moist packs are applied to affected muscles to relieve spasms and pain, and a regimen of exercises is prescribed to prevent deformities and to strengthen the muscles.
- kentish fire — prolonged clapping by an audience, especially in unison, indicating impatience or disapproval.
- kepler's law — any one of three laws governing planetary motion: each planet revolves in an ellipse, with the sun at one focus; the line connecting a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal periods of time (law of areas) or the square of the period of revolution of each planet is proportional to the cube of the semimajor axis of the planet's orbit (harmonic law)
- keratinocyte — An epidermal cell that produces keratin.
- keratogenous — producing horn or a horny substance.
- keratohyalin — (biology) A protein structure found in granules in the stratum granulosum of the epidermis, which may be involved in keratinization, and in Hassall corpuscles in the thymus.
- keratoplasty — plastic surgery performed upon the cornea, especially a corneal transplantation.
- keratotomies — Plural form of keratotomy.
- keraunograph — an instrument for recording thunderstorms by detecting the radio waves generated
- kerb-crawler — a man who drives slowly looking to entice a prostitute into his car for sexual purposes
- kernel style — K&R style
On this page, we collect all 12-letter words starting with letter K. It’s easy to find right word with a certain length. It is the easiest way to find 12-letter word that beginning with K to use in Scrabble or Crossword puzzles.