Kilometer

A meter (spelled metre in Britain) is a unit of length equal to 39.37 inches. A kilometer is a unit of length equal to one thousand meters or about six tenths of a mile. It seems like a great many people don’t know how to pronounce the word. The correct pronunciation is kil-uh-mee-der (emphasis on the first syllable). A common mispronunciation is kuh-lom-uh-der (emphasis on the second syllable). That is incorrect.

Words containing meter usually indicate either length or a measuring instrument. Common units of length in the metric system include nanometer, micrometer (micron), millimeter, centimeter, decimeter, meter, dekameter, hectometer, and of course, kilometer. There are additional prefixes for the word meter to indicate both larger and smaller lengths than those already mentioned. All these various forms of meter have two things in common: all indicate length, and all have emphasis on the first syllable. So: mil-uh-mee-der, cent-uh-mee-der, des-uh-mee-der, and so on to kil-uh-mee-der.

Another usage of the word meter is to indicate a measuring device, as in thermometer, pedometer, speedometer, accelerometer, anemometer, barometer, and chronometer, to name just a few. All these forms of meter have two things in common: all are measuring instruments, and all have emphasis on the “om” syllable. So: ther-mom-uh-der, buh-rom-uh-der, puh-dom-uh-der, spee-dom-uh-der, and so on.

To recap, if you pronounce kilometer like kuh-lom-uh-der, then you are pronouncing the word as if you were speaking of a measuring instrument. If you want to properly pronounce the word that means one thousand meters, then you say kil-uh-mee-der. Every time I hear someone on TV say kuh-lom-uh-der, I wince. (Well, mentally I wince.) And I say out loud to the TV, “It’s kil-uh-mee-der, not kuh-lom-uh-der, moron.” But I know I’m speaking to the wind.

Factoid: U.S. military personnel commonly use the slang word klick to mean kilometer (as in, 20 klicks north of the river). Sometimes they use klicks (plural) to mean kilometers per hour.