The definition of the unit of thermodynamic temperature was given in substance by the 10th CGPM (1954, Resolution 3) which selected the triple point of water as the fundamental fixed point and assigned to it the temperature 273.16 K so defining the unit. The 13th CGPM (1967-1968, Resolution 3) adopted the name kelvin (symbol K) instead of "degree Kelvin" (symbol °K) and defined the unit of thermodynamic temperature as follows (Resolution 4):

The kelvin, unit of thermodynamic temperature, is the fraction 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water.

Because of the way temperature scales used to be defined, it remains common practice to express a thermodynamic temperature, symbol T, in terms of its difference from the reference temperature T₀ = 273.15 K, the ice point. This temperature difference is called the Celsius temperature, symbol t, and is defined by the quantity equation

The unit of Celsius temperature is the degree Celsius, symbol °C, which is by definition equal in magnitude to the kelvin. A difference or interval of temperature may be expressed in kelvins or in degrees Celsius (13th CGPM, 1967-1968, Resolution 3). The numerical value of a Celsius temperature t expressed in degrees Celsius is given by

The kelvin and the degree Celsius are also the units of the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) adopted by the CIPM in 1989 in its Recommendation 5 (CI-1989) (PV, 57, 115 and Metrologia, 1990, 27, 13).