Editing Kilogram (section)

== Name and terminology ==
The kilogram is the only [[SI base unit|base SI unit]] with an [[SI prefix]] (''kilo'') as part of its name. The word ''kilogramme'' or ''kilogram'' is derived from the [[French language|French]] {{lang|fr|kilogramme}},<ref name=OED/> which itself was a learned coinage, prefixing the [[Koine Greek|Greek]] stem of {{lang|grc|χίλιοι}} {{Transliteration|grc|khilioi}} "a thousand" to {{lang|la|gramma}}, a Late Latin term for "a small weight", itself from Greek {{lang|grc|γράμμα}}.<ref>
{{cite book
 |title = The Concise Oxford Dictionary
 |year = 1964
 |last1 = Fowlers |first1 = HW
 |last2 = Fowler |first2 = FG
 |publisher = The Clarendon Press
 |location = Oxford
}} Greek {{lang|grc|γράμμα}} (as it were {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:γράφω|γράφ]]-[[:wikt:-μα|μα]]}}, Doric {{lang|grc|γράθμα}}) means "something written, a letter", but it came to be used as a unit of weight, apparently equal to {{sfrac|1|24}} of an [[ounce]] ({{sfrac|1|288}} of a {{lang|la|[[Pound (mass)#Roman libra|libra]]}}, which would correspond to about 1.14 grams in modern units), at some time during Late Antiquity. French {{lang|fr|gramme}} was adopted from Latin {{lang|la|gramma}}, itself quite obscure, but found in the {{lang|la|Carmen de ponderibus et mensuris}} (8.25) attributed by [[Remmius Palaemon]] (fl. 1st century), where it is the weight of two {{lang|la|[[obolus|oboli]]}} (Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, ''A Latin Dictionary'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dgramma2 s.v. "gramma"], 1879).
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. ''[[A Greek-English Lexicon]]'' (revised and augmented edition, Oxford, 1940) [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=gra/mma s.v. γράμμα], citing the 10th-century work ''[[Geoponica]]'' and a 4th-century papyrus edited in L. Mitteis, ''Griechische Urkunden der Papyrussammlung zu Leipzig'', vol. i (1906), 62 ii 27.</ref> 
The word {{lang|fr|kilogramme}} was written into French law in 1795, in the ''Decree of [[French Republican Calendar|18 Germinal]]'',<ref>
{{cite web
 |url = http://mjp.univ-perp.fr/france/1793mesures.htm
 |title = Décret relatif aux poids et aux mesures du 18 germinal an 3 (7 avril 1795)
 |language = fr
 |trans-title=Decree of 18 Germinal, year III (April 7, 1795) regarding weights and measures
 |website = Grandes lois de la République
 |publisher = Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques, Université de Perpignan
 |access-date = November 3, 2011
}}</ref>
which revised the provisional system of units introduced by the French [[National Convention]] two years earlier, where the {{lang|fr|gravet}} had been defined as weight ({{lang|fr|poids}}) of a cubic centimetre of water, equal to 1/1000 of a {{lang|fr|[[Grave (unit)|grave]]}}.<ref>{{lang|fr|Convention nationale, décret du 1<sup>er</sup> août 1793, ed. Duvergier, ''Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, règlemens avis du Conseil d'état, publiée sur les éditions officielles du Louvre''|italic=unset}}, vol. 6 (2nd ed. 1834), [https://books.google.com/books?id=0mYZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA70 p. 70].
The ''metre'' ({{lang|fr|mètre}}) on which this definition depends was itself defined as the ten-millionth part of a quarter of Earth's [[Meridian (geography)|meridian]], given in [[Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution|traditional units]] as 3 {{lang|fr|[[foot (unit)|pieds]]}}, 11.44 {{lang|fr|lignes}} (a {{lang|fr|ligne}} being the 12th part of a {{lang|fr|pouce}} (inch), or the 144th part of a {{lang|fr|pied}}.</ref> In the decree of 1795, the term {{lang|fr|gramme}} thus replaced {{lang|fr|gravet}}, and {{lang|fr|kilogramme}} replaced {{lang|fr|grave}}.<ref name="Zupko"/>

The French spelling was adopted in Great Britain when the word was used for the first time in English in 1795,<ref>
{{cite journal
 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=24QCAAAAYAAJ&q=kilogramme+weights&pg=PA557
 |title = Paris, during the year 1795
 |author = Peltier, Jean-Gabriel
 |journal = Monthly Review |date=1795 |volume=17|pages=556|access-date = August 2, 2018
}} Contemporaneous English translation of the French decree of 1795</ref><ref name=OED>
{{cite web
 |url = http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry:showfullentry/true?t:ac=Entry/103396
 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20130130180039/http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry:showfullentry/true?t:ac=Entry/103396
 |url-status = dead
 |archive-date = 30 January 2013
 |website = Oxford English Dictionary
 |publisher = Oxford University Press
 |title = Kilogram
 |access-date = November 3, 2011
}}</ref> with the spelling ''kilogram'' being adopted in the United States. In the United Kingdom both spellings are used, with "kilogram" having become by far the more common.<ref name=":1">
{{cite web
 |url          = http://english.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/kilogram
 |title        = Kilogram
 |website      = Oxford Dictionaries
 |access-date  = November 3, 2011
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-url  = https://archive.today/20130131014115/http://english.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/kilogram
 |archive-date = January 31, 2013
 |df           = mdy-all
}}</ref> UK law regulating the units to be used when [[Weights and Measures Acts of the United Kingdom|trading by weight or measure]] does not prevent the use of either spelling.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url = http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/72/section/92
 |title = Spelling of "gram", etc
 |website = [[Weights and Measures Acts of the United Kingdom|Weights and Measures Act 1985]]
 |publisher = [[Office of Public Sector Information|Her Majesty's Stationery Office]]
 |date = October 30, 1985
 |access-date = November 6, 2011
}}</ref>

In the 19th century the French word {{lang|fr|kilo}}, a [[Clipping (morphology)|shortening]] of {{lang|fr|kilogramme}}, was imported into the English language where it has been used to mean both kilogram<ref>
{{cite encyclopedia
 |year=1989
 |edition = 2nd
 |title = kilo (n1)
 |encyclopedia = [[Oxford English Dictionary]]
 |publisher = Oxford University Press
 |location = Oxford
 |url = http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/103394
 |access-date = November 8, 2011}}</ref> and kilometre.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
 |year = 1989
 |edition = 2nd
 |title = kilo (n2)
 |encyclopedia = [[Oxford English Dictionary]]
 |publisher = Oxford University Press
 |location = Oxford
 |url = http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/103395
 |access-date = November 8, 2011
}}</ref> While ''kilo'' as an alternative is acceptable, to ''[[The Economist]]'' for example,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.frzee.com/Education/The%20Economist%20Style%20Guide.pdf |title=Style Guide |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=January 7, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701053545/http://www.frzee.com/Education/The%20Economist%20Style%20Guide.pdf |archive-date=July 1, 2017 |url-status=dead |access-date=November 8, 2011}}</ref> the Canadian government's [[Termium Plus]] system states that "SI (International System of Units) usage, followed in scientific and technical writing" does not allow its usage and it is described as "a common informal name" on Russ Rowlett's Dictionary of Units of Measurement.<ref>
{{cite web |url=https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2guides/guides/wrtps/index-eng.html?lang=eng&lettr=indx_catlog_k&page=96vUJlKx4UCA.html |website=Termium Plus |publisher=Government of Canada |title=kilogram, kg, kilo |date=October 8, 2009 |access-date =May 29, 2019 }}</ref><ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictK.html |title=kilo |website=How Many? |access-date=November 6, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116205434/http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictK.html |archive-date=November 16, 2011}}</ref> When the [[United States Congress]] gave the metric system legal status in 1866, it permitted the use of the word ''kilo'' as an alternative to the word ''kilogram'',<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/laws/metric-act-bill.html
 |title=H.R. 596, An Act to authorize the use of the metric system of weights and measures
 |author=29th Congress of the United States, Session 1
 |date=May 13, 1866
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705015307/http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/laws/metric-act-bill.html
 |archive-date=July 5, 2015
}}</ref> but in 1990 revoked the status of the word ''kilo''.<ref>
{{cite journal
 |journal      = [[Federal Register]]
 |volume       = 63
 |issue        = 144
 |date         = July 28, 1998
 |page         = 40340
 |url          = http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/pdf/SIFedReg.pdf
 |title        = Metric System of Measurement:Interpretation of the International System of Units for the United States; Notice
 |quote        = '''Obsolete Units''' As stated in the 1990 Federal Register notice, ...
 |access-date  = November 10, 2011
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20111015081850/http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/pdf/SIFedReg.pdf
 |archive-date = October 15, 2011
 |df           = mdy-all
}}</ref>

The SI system was introduced in 1960 and in 1970 the [[International Bureau of Weights and Measures|BIPM]] started publishing the [[International System of Units#SI Brochure|''SI Brochure'']], which contains all relevant decisions and recommendations by the [[General Conference on Weights and Measures|CGPM]] concerning units. The ''SI Brochure'' states that "It is not permissible to use abbreviations for unit symbols or unit names ...".<ref>{{SIBrochure8th|page = 130}}</ref><ref group = Note>The French text (which is the authoritative text) states "{{lang|fr|Il n'est pas autorisé d'utiliser des abréviations pour les symboles et noms d'unités ...}}"</ref>

For use with east Asian  character sets, the SI symbol is encoded as a single Unicode character, {{unichar|338f|SQUARE KG}} in the [[CJK Compatibility]] block.