KDE is not an abbreviation, and not in the same way than XNA is not an abbreviation. Originally it was the Kool Desktop Environment which was quickly dropped not for the obvious KDE Desktop Environment but K Desktop Environment, which kinda makes sense given that KDE replaces 'c's with 'k' all over the place -- such as, to wit, its name as it's a reference to CDE. Nowadays it's plain KDE though.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago

Cool Desctop Environment

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

a long time ago I've heard that maybe the only reasoning behind the "K" is that it comes before "L" in the alphabet (L, cause of "Linux")

Idk how true is this, but I've found this "explanation" amusing.