K and K

K and K

English

Etymology

Part-translation of German k. u. k., short for kaiserlich und königlich (“imperial and royal”).

Adjective

K and K (not comparable)

1. (historical) Imperial and royal, with reference to the Habsburg monarchy, especially as rulers of Austria-Hungary.
   • 1998, Dagmar CG Lorenz, ‘Transcending the Boundaries of Space and Culture’, in Transforming the Center, Eroding the Margins:

     According to him and other critics who fashioned the concept of a German-Jewish symbiosis to describe the close ties between Central European Jewish and Gentile culture, the k. and k. monarchy was imbued with Jewish thought and tradition.

   • 2002, Michael Hofmann, translating Josepth Roth, The Radetsky March, Folio Society 2015, p. 80:

     And the dead man was kept alive in the loyal memory of his widow, the model of a husband, fallen in the service of the Emperor and the K-and-K postal service.