Standard Lemma guide

kilobyte

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K IH1 L OW0 B AY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

One thousand (103, or 1,000) bytes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: especially

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, networking, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A kibibyte.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal

Qualifier: especially RAM

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a unit of information equal to 1024 bytes

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: kibibyte, K, KB, KiB

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: computer memory unit

4

noun

Meaning 4

a unit of information equal to 1000 bytes

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: K, KB

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: computer memory unit

History

Etymology

Coined in the 1960s, from kilo- (“thousand”) + byte.

Across languages

Translations

33 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Abkhaz: акьылобаит (akjʼəlobajtʼ) — 1024 bytes
  • Arabic: كِيلُوبَايْت (kilubayt) — 1024 bytes
  • Catalan: quilooctet — 1024 bytes
  • Chinese Mandarin: 千字節 /千字节 (qiānzìjié) — 1024 bytes
  • Chinese Mandarin: KB — 1024 bytes
  • Czech: kilobyte — 1024 bytes
  • Czech: kilobajt — 1024 bytes
  • Esperanto: kilobajto — 1024 bytes
  • Esperanto: kilobitoko — 1024 bytes
  • Finnish: kilotavu — 1024 bytes
  • French: kilooctet — 1024 bytes
  • Georgian: კილობაიტი (ḳilobaiṭi) — 1024 bytes
  • German: Kilobyte — 1024 bytes
  • Greek: κιλομπάιτ (kilompáit) — 1024 bytes
  • Greek: χιλιοδυφιοσυλλαβή (chiliodyfiosyllaví) — 1024 bytes
  • Hungarian: kilobyte — 1024 bytes
  • Italian: kilobyte — 1024 bytes
  • Japanese: キロバイト (kirobaito) — 1024 bytes
  • Korean: 킬로바이트 (killobaiteu) — 1024 bytes
  • Macedonian: килобајт (kilobajt) — 1024 bytes
  • Malay: kilobait — 1024 bytes
  • Navajo: kiiłtsohʼííłké — 1024 bytes
  • Norman: kilobouochie — 1024 bytes
  • Polish: kilobajt — 1024 bytes
  • Portuguese: kilobyte — 1024 bytes
  • Romanian: kilobyte — 1024 bytes
  • Romanian: kilooctet — 1024 bytes
  • Russian: килоба́йт (kilobájt) — 1024 bytes
  • Spanish: kilobyte — 1024 bytes
  • Swedish: kilobyte — 1024 bytes
  • Thai: กิโลไบต์ (gì-loo-bái) — 1024 bytes
  • Ukrainian: кілоба́йт (kilobájt) — 1024 bytes
  • Uyghur: كىلوبايت (kilobayt) — 1024 bytes