Qoph is the nineteenthletter of theSemitic abjads, includingPhoenicianqōp 𐤒,Hebrewqūp̄ק‎,Aramaicqop 𐡒,Syriacqōp̄ ܩ, andArabicqāfق‎. It is also related to theAncient North Arabian𐪄,South Arabian𐩤, and Ge'ezቀ.

Its original sound value was aWest Semiticemphatic stop, presumably[kʼ]. InHebrew numerals, it has the numerical value of 100.

The origin of the glyph shape ofqōp () is uncertain. It is usually suggested to have originally depicted either asewing needle, specifically theeye of a needle (Hebrewקוףquf and Aramaicקופאqopɑʔ both refer to the eye of a needle), or the back of a head and neck (qāf in Arabic meant "nape").^[1]According to an older suggestion, it may also have been a picture of a monkey and its tail (the Hebrewקוף means "monkey").^[2]

BesidesAramaicQop, which gave rise to the letter in the Semitic abjads used in classical antiquity, Phoenicianqōp is also the origin of the Latin letterQ and GreekϘ (qoppa) andΦ (phi).^[3]

The Arabic letterق is namedقافqāf. It is written in several ways depending in its position in the word:

Traditionally in thescripts of the Maghreb it is written with a single dot, similarly to how the letterfāف is written in Mashreqi scripts:^[4]

It is usually transliterated into Latin script asq, though some scholarly works useḳ.^[5]

According toSibawayh, author of the first book onArabic grammar, the letter is pronouncedvoiced (maǧhūr),^[6] although some scholars argue, that Sibawayh's termmaǧhūr implies lack ofaspiration rather than voice.^[7] As noted above,Modern Standard Arabic has thevoiceless uvular plosive/q/ as its standard pronunciation of the letter, but dialectal pronunciations vary as follows:

The three main pronunciations:

• [q]: in most of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco,Southern andWestern Yemen and parts of Oman, Northern Iraq, parts of the Levant (especially theAlawite andDruze dialects). In fact, it is so characteristic of theAlawites and theDruze that Levantines invented a verb "yqaqi" /jqæqi/ that means "speaking with a /q/".^[8] However, most other dialects of Arabic will use this pronunciation in learned words that are borrowed from Standard Arabic into the respective dialect or when Arabs speak Modern Standard Arabic.
• [ɡ]: in most of theArabian Peninsula,Northern andEastern Yemen and parts of Oman, SouthernIraq, some parts within Jordan, eastern Syria and southern Palestine,Upper Egypt (Ṣaʿīd),Sudan,Libya,Mauritania and to lesser extent in some parts ofTunisia,Algeria, andMorocco but it is also used partially across those countries in some words.^[9]
• [ʔ]: in most of theLevant andEgypt, as well as some North African towns such asTlemcen andFez.

Other pronunciations:

• [ɢ]: InSudanese and some forms ofYemeni, even in loanwords from Modern Standard Arabic or when speaking Modern Standard Arabic.
• [k]: In ruralPalestinian it is often pronounced as avoiceless velar plosive[k], even in loanwords from Modern Standard Arabic or when speaking Modern Standard Arabic.

Marginal pronunciations:

• [d͡z]: In some positions inNajdi, though this pronunciation is fading in favor of[ɡ].^[10][11]
• [d͡ʒ]: Optionally inIraqi and inGulf Arabic, it is sometimes pronounced as avoiced postalveolar affricate[d͡ʒ], even in loanwords from Modern Standard Arabic or when speaking Modern Standard Arabic.
• [ɣ] ~[ʁ]: inSudanese and some Yemeni dialects (Yafi'i), and sometimes inGulf Arabic by Persian influence, even in loanwords from Modern Standard Arabic or when speaking Modern Standard Arabic.

It is not well known when the pronunciation of qāf⟨ق⟩ as a velar[ɡ] occurred or the probability of it being connected to the pronunciation ofjīm⟨ج⟩ as an affricate[d͡ʒ], but theArabian peninsula, there are two sets of pronunciations, either the⟨ج⟩ represents a[d͡ʒ] and⟨ق⟩ represents a[ɡ]^[12] which is the main pronunciation in most of the peninsula except for western and southernYemen and parts ofOman where⟨ج⟩ represents a[ɡ] and⟨ق⟩ represents a[q].

The Standard Arabic (MSA) combination of⟨ج⟩ as a[d͡ʒ] and⟨ق⟩ as a[q] does not occur in any natural modern dialect in the Arabian peninsula, which shows a strong correlation between the palatalization of⟨ج⟩ to[d͡ʒ] and the pronunciation of the⟨ق⟩ as a[ɡ] as shown in the table below:

Notes:

1. Western and southern Yemen:Taʽizzi, Adeni andTihamiyya dialects (coastal Yemen), in addition to southwestern (Salalah region) and eastern Oman, includingMuscat, the capital.
2. As used in theArabian Peninsula: inSanaa;ق is[ɡ] inSanʽani dialect and also in the literary standard (local MSA), whereas the literary standard pronunciation inSudan is[ɢ] or[ɡ]. For the pronunciation ofج in Modern Standard Arabic, checkJīm.

TheMaghrebi style of writingqāf is different: having only a single point (dot) above; when the letter is isolated or word-final, it may sometimes become unpointed.^[13]

The earliest Arabic manuscripts showqāf in several variants: pointed (above or below) or unpointed.^[14] Then the prevalent convention was having a point above forqāf and a point below forfāʼ; this practice is now only preserved in manuscripts from the Maghribi,^[15] with the exception of Libya and Algeria, where theMashriqi form (two dots above:ق) prevails.

Within Maghribi texts, there is no possibility of confusing it with the letterfāʼ, as it is instead written with a dot underneath (ڢ‎) in the Maghribi script.^[16]

TheOxford Hebrew-English Dictionary transliterates the letter Qoph (קוֹף‎) asq ork; and, when word-final, it may be transliterated asck.^{[citation needed]} The English spellings of Biblical names (as derived viaLatin fromBiblical Greek) containing this letter may represent it asc ork, e.g.Cain for HebrewQayin, orKenan forQenan (Genesis 4:1, 5:9).

Orthographic variants
Various print fonts			Cursive Hebrew	Rashi script
Serif	Sans-serif	Monospaced
ק	ק	ק

Inmodern Israeli Hebrew the letteris also calledkuf. The letter represents/k/; i.e., no distinction is made between the pronunciations of Qof andKaph withDagesh (in modern Hebrew).

However, many historical groups have made that distinction, with Qof being pronounced[q] byIraqi Jews and otherMizrahim, or even as[ɡ] byYemenite Jews influenced byYemeni Arabic.

Qoph is consistently transliterated into classical Greek with the unaspirated〈κ〉/k/, while Kaph (both its allophones) is transliterated with the aspirated〈χ〉/kʰ/. Thus Qoph was unaspirated /k/ where Kaph was /kʰ/, this distinction is no longer present. Further we know that Qoph is one of the emphatic consonants through comparison with other Semitic languages, and most likely was ejective /kʼ/. In Arabic the emphatics are pharyngealised and this causes a preference for back vowels, this is not shown in Hebrew orthography. Though the gutturals show a preference for certain vowels, Hebrew emphatics do not in Tiberian Hebrew (the Hebrew dialect recorded with vowels) and therefore were most likely not pharyngealised, but ejective, pharyngealisation being a result of Arabisation.^{[citation needed]}

Qof inHebrew numerals represents the number 100.Sarah is described inGenesis Rabba asבת ק' כבת כ' שנה לחטא‎, literally "At Qof years of age, she was likeKaph years of age in sin", meaning that when she was 100 years old, she was as sinless as when she was 20.^[17]

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