What does K2 stand for and what is notable about its name?

• A. K stands for Kowloon; K2 is a mountain in Hong Kong.
• B. K2 stands for Karakoram; K2 is the second peak listed on a survey from 1856.
• C. K stands for Kilimanjaro; K2 is Africa's second-highest peak.
• D. K stands for K2; it's the second peak discovered in America.

Answer: (B)

K2’s name comes from a historical naming system used by 19th-century surveyors in the Karakoram. During the Great Trigonometrical Survey, peaks in that range were labeled with K numbers—K1, K2, K3, and so on—with the letter standing for Karakoram and the number indicating their order on the survey list. The notable thing about this name is that it’s a catalog label rather than a local or descriptive name; the mountain is also known as Mount Godwin-Austen, but globally the K2 designation is the one that stuck because it came from the survey. The other suggested origins don’t fit the historical context of this mountain’s naming.