This dictionary covers design, prepress and printing topics.
It was created with the help of Stan Schwartz.

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

k
- Abbreviation for Kilo, which is 1000 units.
- Abbreviation for Kilobyte, a measure of data quantity (1024 bytes)

K
- Abbreviation for black (comes from Key)
- Abbreviation for Kelvin, which is a unit for measurement of color temperature.

kanji
The Japanese name for Han characters, derived from the Chinese word hanzi. Also romanized as kanzi.

kb
Abbreviation for Kilobit, a measure of data quantity (1024 bits)

kB
Abbreviation for Kilobyte, a measure of data quantity (1024 bytes)

kbs
Abbreviation for KiloBits per Second, (1024 bytes per second) that is used as a unit of measurement of data transfer rates.

Kelvin
- The scale of absolute temperature in which the zero is approximately -273 degrees Celsius.
- A unit of measurement in printing that is used to describe the color of a light source, such as 5000 degrees K standard viewing conditions.

kerning
Kerning controls the spacing between two characters. Typical examples of combination that require subtle kerning are an r following a T (the “r” has to nestle underneath the right-hand bar slightly) or an LY pair that have to nudge closer together. You can control kerning manually, or you can turn on the kerning built into a font by the font designer.

kerning pairs
In typesetting, certain pairs of letters, by nature of their design, require kerning to improve their typeset appearance. Most digital typefaces have a series of predefined kerning pairs, such as A and W. The system user can make adjustments to the preset amount of space for a specific kerning pair.

key
Another name for the black printer. When letterpress was the popular printing method, black was printed first. The other colors were then aligned visually to the black image, which was considered the key color. The “K” in CMYK stands for key.

keyline
- Lines on artwork to serve as guidelines.
- The border you put around a picture.

keylining
The process of bringing text and graphic elements together into a coherent piece.

key plate
In multi-color printing, the plate is used as a guide for registering other plates.

key stroke
The striking of one character on a computer’s keyboard.

Keyline
Sometimes used as the synonym for mechanical.

kilobit
1024 bits or 128 bytes.

kinematic mount
Mount whose motion and constraints are non-redundant in any of six degrees of freedom.

knockout
The opposite of overprint: a shape of object (e.g. text or a logo) that is printed by eliminating (knocking out) all background colors or objects that it covers.

knockout mask
A mask created to prevent an area of an image from recording. When one image is layed over another, the base image can be reproduced right on the paper and not on top of the first image.

KS/KSSM
A page description language used by the Korean government.