"K" Slang

k-fan

Internet

A domestic Korean fan, whose spending and voting carry outsized weight for domestic charts and awards versus i-fans.

k-netz

Internet

Korean internet users whose forum and portal reactions strongly shape idols' domestic reputations, distinct from 'I-fans' (international fans).

k-whopper

General

Affectionate CB-radio nickname for a Kenworth truck — usually the long-nose W900, the chrome-fronted American icon. Kenworth drivers tend to be loyalists, and the K-Whopper has a near-mythic status in owner-operator culture: expensive, beautiful, holds its resale value, and looks right doing anything.

k&b purple

Street

A specific deep royal purple, named for the Katz & Besthoff drugstore chain that drenched the city in it for most of the 20th century. New Orleanians use it the way other people say 'Tiffany blue' — a precise color reference everyone local instantly clocks.

ka kite anō

General

A friendly farewell meaning 'see you again'. Often shortened to 'ka kite'.

kabedon

Internet

The romantic-drama move where one person slaps or leans a hand on the wall beside another, trapping them in place — an iconic shoujo 'wall slam' moment.

kai

General

The everyday Kiwi word for food, used interchangeably with 'food' in casual conversation.

kaiju

Internet

A giant monster that rampages through cities, a genre and creature type central to tokusatsu and much anime. Literally 'strange beast'.

kandi

Music

By extension, the gifting ritual itself — trading kandi is a peace-and-friendship handshake in the scene.

kanga

Street

A prison officer. Formed by rhyming slang stacked on top of 'screw'.

kangaroos loose in the top paddock

General

Used of someone who is a bit mad, eccentric or not thinking straight.

kaomoji

Internet

Emoticons built from characters that are read without tilting your head, such as (^_^) or (>_<), heavily used in anime-fan chat.

kappa

Gaming

Drop it at the end of a sentence and you've just put air quotes around the whole thing. It means 'don't take that seriously, I'm being ironic.'

kapusta

Internet

Russian slang for money, literally 'cabbage,' echoing green-vegetable money metaphors.

kara cancel

Gaming

You start a move that scoots your character forward a touch, then cancel its first few frames into a second move before the first one fires. The second move now reaches from that further-forward spot. Free extra range.

karen

Internet

A meme archetype for an entitled, complaining person, classically a middle-aged woman who throws a fit over minor issues and demands to speak to the manager.

karma

Internet

On Reddit, the running total of upvotes minus downvotes your posts and comments have collected. It's a meaningless internet number that people somehow still fight over — high karma signals you've been around, posted bangers, or relentlessly farmed easy subs. Required to post in some communities, used as a vibe check everywhere else.

karma farm

Internet

A post built like a slot machine — designed to print karma rather than say anything real. Reposted wholesome dog pics, recycled inspirational quotes, low-effort 'Reddit moments' — the genre is wide. The point isn't the content, it's the number going up. Often a prelude to selling the account later.

kawaii

Internet

Shorthand for an entire aesthetic of pastel colors, plushies, and round cartoonish charm.

kay-li

General

Sherbet powder — the brightly coloured, slightly sour stuff sold in paper bags by the quarter from old sweet shops. A Black Country / West Midlands word, peak nostalgia for anyone who grew up in the region between the 40s and 80s. Spawned the related 'kaylied' — drunk — because the buzz feels similar.

kaya

General

A term for marijuana, immortalised as the title of Bob Marley's 1978 album 'Kaya'.

kaylied

General

Extremely drunk — well past tipsy, into the can't-stand-up zone. Stronger than 'bevvied'. Heavily Scouse and Northern English, with the same energy as 'hammered' or 'paralytic'. Origin is murky but possibly linked to 'kali', an old sherbet sweet.

kda

Gaming

The three numbers that sum up your game at a glance. Written like 10/2/8 — ten kills, two deaths, eight assists. Often crunched into a single ratio: (kills + assists) divided by deaths.

kday

Street

1580 AM KDAY — the first US radio station to go all-hip-hop, broadcasting out of LA from 1983 to 1991. Broke NWA, Ice-T, Run-DMC and the whole West Coast scene. Re-launched on 93.5 FM in 2004 as a classic hip-hop station and still name-checked on records to this day.

kecks

General

Trousers. Standard Scouse and northern English usage — jeans, joggers, work pants, all kecks.

keek

General

To peep or glance quickly, often slyly; as a noun, a hasty look.

keeker

General

An official who inspected coal at the pit surface; also, colloquially, a black eye.

keel

General

A flat-bottomed boat historically used to carry coal to ships on the river; its crew were 'keelmen'.

keen

General

Eager or willing to do something; 'keen as' intensifies it.

keen as

General

Extremely eager; the '...as' construction intensifies without completing the comparison.

keep

Gaming

An inner defensive structure that shields the Core. Take down a Keep and the enemy minions start spawning stronger, plus you get a clear shot at the win condition.

keep dixie

General

Standing watch. The job of the mate who isn't doing the crime but is one whistle away from saving everyone. Could be a school nick, a corner-shop swipe, or just texting your dad while you sneak back in. Whoever's keeping dixie is the eyes.

keep it 100

General

To keep it one hundred percent real — to stay genuine and truthful.

keep on truckin

Music

A casual sign-off meaning take care and keep moving forward.

keepie-uppie

General

The skill of keeping the ball airborne using feet, thighs, chest, shoulders and head without letting it drop.

keeping sketch

General

Acting as a lookout — standing watch while a mate does something they shouldn't. The classic schoolyard sense: one kid robs the apples, the other keeps sketch for the teacher. From the Irish word 'sceith' (to reveal, to inform), filtered through generations of cute hoors.

keffel

General

An old, worn-out or worthless horse — a nag. From Welsh 'ceffyl' (horse), but in English it picked up a sneer: the second-rate, knackered, sorry-looking kind. Once common in 19th-century underworld slang for a dodgy mount; now largely obsolete, but still rattles around in horse country and historical fiction.

keg

General

Another word for a barrel or tube of a wave. The pun on a beer keg is very much intended in surf culture.

kek

Internet

Means laughter. Originated in World of Warcraft, where Horde players typing 'lol' had it auto-translated to 'kek' for Alliance players. Escaped into Twitch, Discord and 4chan chat where it stuck. Carries slightly more 'laughing AT you' energy than plain lol.

kekw

Gaming

Can carry a slightly mocking edge, laughing AT someone's fail rather than just with the joke.

kekwait

Gaming

You're laughing at someone, then it U-turns and the joke's on you. KEKWait is that exact beat where the grin drops.

kelly

General

Shorthand invoking Kelly Slater, the most successful competitive surfer ever, often used as the yardstick for surfing brilliance.

kelpie

General

A malevolent water spirit of Scottish folklore, usually appearing as a horse that lures victims into the water.

kemomimi

Internet

A shortened form referring to characters with animal ears and related features such as catgirls; interchangeable with kemonomimi in fan use.

kemonomimi

Internet

A character who has animal features such as ears and a tail attached to an otherwise human body. Cat-eared 'nekomimi' are the best-known subtype.

ken

General

A sentence-ender / filler, roughly 'you know' or 'right', used to check the listener's with you or just to round off a thought.

kent

General

Past tense and participle of 'ken'; 'I kent that' means I knew that. A 'weel-kent face' is a well-known one.

kerb crawler

General

A client who cruises red-light streets in a car at walking pace, sizing up workers through the passenger window before pulling over to negotiate. Mostly British usage; the activity itself, 'kerb crawling', is a specific criminal offence in UK law.