Kubernetes have grown in popularity in the past few years. It is a cluster orchestration system that is designed to manage containers. Its sole purpose is to manage a distributed system and provide automation wherever possible. If you are into Kubernetes, then you should also know how they are known as K8s. In this article, we will be exploring the reason and history behind the abbreviation.
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Why is Kubernetes called K8s?
The history behind the abbreviation starts from the late ‘80s. The reason behind Kubernetes being called K8s is all lead to one conclusion — simple communication. Communication has always been complex when it comes to humans. No one likes long words or waste time speaking them every time they work with it. The same reason is behind the K8s.
IT industry is a place where people do not have time. Their primary focus is to communicate clearly, but without wasting others time. That’s why you will hear many IT people use numeronym forms, shortening the words. The shortening is mainly done by keeping the first and the last letter of the word and adding the total number of letters contained in the word.
The same is true for Kubernetes. Its first letter is “K,” and the last letter is “S.” It is composed of 10 words, but between the first and the last letter, there are 8 additional letters, i.e., “ubernete.” This is where the 8 come from. Combining all of them, we get “K8s.” — a simple yet effective short form of the word Kubernetes.
Another example would be “Internationalization” which when shortened leads to “i18n.” The whole purpose is to make long words short so that communications can become simple yet effective.
So, what do you think about Kubernetes called “K8s”? Do you also use the abbreviation? Comment below and let us know. We are listening.
