The kilometre (American spelling: kilometer; SI symbol: km) is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for 1000). It is now the measurement unit used officially for expressing distances between geographical places on land in most of the world; notable exceptions are the United States and the United Kingdom where the statute mile is the official unit used.

k (pronounced kay) is occasionally used as an alternative for the word kilometre in everyday writing and speech. A slang term for the kilometre in the U.S. military is klick.^{[citation needed]}