TK
Abbreviation with 5 meanings
| Stands for | Turkish Airlines |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 5 |
| Categories | Transportation & Travel, Writing & Everyday, Texting & Internet Slang, Education & Academia, Geography & Places |
TK has five meanings. The most common are Turkish Airlines (airline code) and To come (proofreading and correction mark); it can also stand for Team kill, Transitional kindergarten and Tokelau.
Meanings of TK at a glance
| # | TK stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Turkish Airlines | Transportation & Travel › Airline Code |
| 2 | To come | Writing & Everyday › Proofreading and Correction Mark |
| 3 | Team kill | Texting & Internet Slang › Gaming Slang |
| 4 | Transitional kindergarten | Education & Academia › K-12 Education |
| 5 | Tokelau | Geography & Places › Country Code |
1. Turkish Airlines
Transportation & Travel · Airline Code Abbreviations
Istanbul-based national airline of Turkey, which flies to more countries than any other airline in the world. It is a member of Star Alliance.
Example: TK 1 from Istanbul to JFK is a 777 with business-class seats that fold flat.
ICAO code THY, from the Turkish name Türk Hava Yolları ("Turkish Airways"); callsign "Turkish." Founded in 1933 with five aircraft. The airline's strategy of connecting almost any two cities via Istanbul relies on the city's location within a narrowbody flight of much of Europe, Africa and Asia.
2. To come
Writing & Everyday · Proofreading and Correction Mark Abbreviations · also used in entertainment
Placeholder used by writers and editors for information not yet available, such as a statistic, name or page number, as in "the company employs TK people." The odd spelling makes gaps easy to find before publication.
Example: The draft reads "The bridge cost $TK million," pending the figure from the transportation department.
The letter pair TK rarely occurs in English words, so a search for it finds every gap quickly, whereas "TC" would match many words. Magazine and newspaper editors also use TK as an adjective, as in "the art is TK." It is often explained as a deliberate misspelling of "to kum," and journalists may also write "TKTK" for emphasis.
3. Team kill
Texting & Internet Slang · Gaming Slang Abbreviations
Killing a teammate, either accidentally through friendly fire or deliberately to grief. Used as a noun and a verb ("he TK'd me").
Example: Watch your grenades, that's your third TK this match.
In tactical shooters such as Counter-Strike, team kills can lead to automatic penalties or kicks. Deliberate team killing is considered griefing and is reportable. In the military TK can mean a tank, and in Turkish contexts the abbreviation means unrelated things, so the game setting makes it clear.
4. Transitional kindergarten
Education & Academia · K-12 Education Abbreviations
Free public school grade in California between preschool and kindergarten, now open to all four-year-olds. California phased in universal TK from 2022, reaching all children who turn four by September 1 in the 2025–26 school year.
Example: Our daughter turns four in June, so she can start TK in the fall.
TK was created by California's Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010, which moved the kindergarten birthday cutoff earlier. Classes are taught by credentialed teachers and have lower adult-to-child ratios than kindergarten. Other states use different names, such as Pre-K or junior kindergarten.
5. Tokelau
Geography & Places · Country Code Abbreviations
New Zealand territory of three Pacific atolls with about 1,500 residents and no fixed capital. Its .tk domain was once the world's largest country domain by registrations because the Freenom service gave names away free.
Example: Spam filters often flagged .tk links, the free domains of TK.
In 2012 Tokelau became one of the first territories to meet its electricity needs entirely from solar power. Freenom stopped new registrations in 2023. The alpha-3 code is TKL.
Related abbreviations
More airline code abbreviations
- SQ – Singapore Airlines
- SV – Saudia
- SY – Sun Country Airlines
- TG – Thai Airways International
- TP – TAP Air Portugal
- U2 – easyJet
- UA – United Airlines
- VS – Virgin Atlantic
See all 60 airline code abbreviations →