Imperial–royal

{{short description|Title of institutions of the Austrian Empire}}

{{Redirect|k.k.|the type of company in Japan|Kabushiki gaisha}}

{{distinguish|Imperial and Royal}}

The adjective {{lang|de|kaiserlich-königlich}} (usually abbreviated to {{lang|de|k. k.}}), German for imperial–royal, was applied to the authorities and state institutions of the Austrian Empire until the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which established the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Thereafter the abbreviation {{lang|de|k. k.}} only applied to institutions of the so-called Cisleithania (i.e. those lands not part of the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen/Transleithania: Hungary and Croatia-Slavonia; Bosnia and Herzegovina, annexed in 1878 from the Ottoman Empire, was a condominium of Cis- and Transleithania). Common institutions of both halves of the empire were described from 1867 to 1918 as {{lang|de|kaiserlich und königlich/k. u. k.}} ("imperial and royal"). Contrary to the regulations, the Common Army continued to use the abbreviation {{lang|de|k. k.}} to describe itself until 1889.

Today, the abbreviation k. k. is often loosely replaced by {{lang|de|k. u. k.}} ("k and k"), but the two terms are historically and legally distinct. The prefix {{lang|de|k. u. k.}} ({{lang|de|kaiserlich und königlich}}) only properly referred to the authorities and institutions of both halves of the empire. The first {{lang|de|k.}} ({{lang|de|kaiserlich}} = "imperial") referred to the Emperor of Austria. In {{lang|de|k. k.}}, the second {{lang|de|k.}} ({{lang|de|königlich}} = "royal", literally "kingly") referred, from 1867, to the King of Bohemia (the Kingdom of Bohemia/Lands of the Bohemian Crown were part of Cisleithania). In {{lang|de|k. u. k.}}, the second {{lang|de|k.}} ({{lang|de|königlich}}) referred to the King of Hungary. Both the titles King of Bohemia and King of Hungary were borne by the Emperor.

The abbreviation {{lang|de|h. k. k.}}, which was frequently used in connection with the central ministries, meant "high" imperial–royal ({{lang|de|hohes kaiserlich-königliches}}), e.g. in {{lang|de|h. k. k. Ministerium für Kultus und Unterricht}}, {{lang|de|h. k. k. Statthalterei für Tirol und Vorarlberg}},[https://books.google.com/books?id=kRspAAAAYAAJ&dq=h-+k-+k.+Ministerium&pg=PA54 Die Ameisen von Tirol] by Vincenz Maria Gredler, Jos. Eberle'schen, Bozen, 1858, p. 54. {{lang|de|h. k. k. Ministerium für Handel und Volkswirthschaft}}, etc.[https://books.google.com/books?id=2blPAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA41 Programm des Kaiserl.-Königl. Gymnasiums zu Linz: für das Schuljahr 1859/60], Jos. Feichtinger, Linz, 1860, p. 6.