Kilobyte

Kilobyte

Noun · /ˈkɪl.ə.baɪt/ · Abbrev: KB or kB

Definition

A unit of digital information equal to 1,024 bytes (binary) or 1,000 bytes (decimal/SI). Abbreviated KB or kB, depending on convention.

Origin

1960s computing. From Greek khilioi (thousand) + byte (coined by Werner Buchholz at IBM, 1956, from "bite" with altered spelling). Kilobyte entered standard computing vocabulary as memory grew measurable in thousands of bytes.