Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A unit of absolute temperature equal to 1/273.16 of the absolute temperature of the triple point of water. One kelvin degree is equal to one Celsius degree.
- noun A temperature scale in which zero occurs at absolute zero and each degree equals one kelvin. Water freezes at 273.15 K and boils at 373.15 K.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A name proposed, in honor of Lord Kelvin, for the kilowatt-hour which is the British Board of Trade unit of work.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The SI unit of temperature, defined as being 1/273.16 of the triple point of water; abbreviated K. The melting point of water at 760 mm pressure is 273.15 Kelvins, and the boiling point 373.15 Kelvins. One degree Kelvin is equal to one degree Centigrade, and 9/5 degrees Fahrenheit.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun In the
International System of Units , thebase unit ofthermodynamic temperature ; 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of thetriple point ofwater . Shown as "K". - noun A unit interval on the
Kelvin scale . - noun usually as postpositioned adjective A unit for a specific temperature on the
Kelvin scale .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the basic unit of thermodynamic temperature adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
- noun British physicist who invented the Kelvin scale of temperature and pioneered undersea telegraphy (1824-1907)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word kelvin.
Examples
-
The 13th CGPM (1967) adopted the name kelvin (symbol K) instead of "degree Kelvin" (symbol °K) and defined the unit of thermodynamic temperature as follows:
Kelvin 2007
-
The kelvin is the unit of thermodynamic temperature in the International System of Units (SI).
Kelvin 2007
-
The 13th CGPM changed the name to simply "kelvin" symbol K.
Cool – Literally – Extrasolar Planet Imaged | Universe Today 2009
-
This redefinition would bring the kilogram into line with the six other base units that make up the International System of Units SI – the metre, the second, the ampere, the kelvin, the mole and the candela.
-
Dr. Phillips and other mandarins of metrology were gathered at Britain's Royal Society to debate an urgent question in the science of measurement — how to re-define the basic unit of mass, as well as other measurements such as the second, ampere, kelvin and mole.
The Fate of the Kilo Weighs Heavily on the Minds of Metrologists Jeanne Whalen 2011
-
Way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! kelvin M, OHIO
-
#40 POSTED BY kelvin hobson, Nov 26th, 2008 2: 36 pm would love to win!
-
Celsius makes alot more sense to the rest of us, but we'll settle with kelvin :p
Cassini Finds "Heat" and More Geysers on Enceladus | Universe Today 2010
-
Also, when reference is made to the unit kelvin either a specific temperature or a temperature interval, kelvin is always spelled with a lowercase k unless it is the first word in a sentence.
Are We Just 'Lucky' to See Activity on Enceladus? | Universe Today 2010
-
Bill Clinton was not the candidate, stupids! kelvin mays
alexz commented on the word kelvin
Apparently, we're not supposed to say 'degrees kelvin' but rather kelvin.
Stars are 'thousands of kelvin' instead of 'thousands of degrees kelvin'.
Google Books lists 'thousands of degrees kelvin' outnumbering 'thousands of kelvin' at 2500 to 445.
Googlefight has 'thousands of kelvin' leading 'thousands of degrees kelvin' 639 to 358.
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?word1="thousands+of+kelvin"&word2;="thousands+of+degrees+kelvin"
I think we're used to the 'unit temperature division' in the degree definition.
April 27, 2015
bilby commented on the word kelvin
I live in Kelvin Avenue and I'm pretty sure it's never been degree Kelvin avenue.
April 28, 2015
qroqqa commented on the word kelvin
They're not kelvin, they're kelvins, if there are thousands of them.
April 28, 2015
qms commented on the word kelvin
I thought kelvin was already plural. Isn’t one degree a kelve?
April 28, 2015
alexz commented on the word kelvin
I think it's silly to throw away the 'degrees' part of the Kelvin term, as degree has been used as n. A unit division of a temperature scale.
When people write books, they tend to use 'degrees kelvin' instead of 'kelvin'
Google Ngram of book usage of 'thousands of kelvin' versus 'thousands of degrees kelvin' http://goo.gl/FlGvTa
April 28, 2015