Kaph | |
---|---|
Phoenician | 𐤊 |
Hebrew | כ |
Aramaic | 𐡊 |
Syriac | ܟ |
Arabic | ك |
Phonemic representation | k(x) |
Position in alphabet | 11 |
Numerical value | 20 |
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician | |
Greek | Κ |
Latin | K |
Cyrillic | К |
Kaph (also spelledkaf) is the eleventhletter of theSemitic abjads, includingPhoeniciankāp 𐤊,Hebrewkāp̄כ,Aramaickāp 𐡊,Syriackāp̄ ܟ, andArabickāfك (inabjadi order).
The Phoenician letter gave rise to theGreekkappa (Κ),LatinK, andCyrillicК.
Kaph is thought to be derived from a pictogram of a hand (in both modernArabic andmodern Hebrew,kaphכף means "palm" or "grip"), though in Arabic thea in the name of the letter (كاف) is pronounced longer than thea in the word meaning "palm" (كَف). The small ک above thekāf in its final and isolated forms⟨ك ـك⟩ was originally‘alāmatu-l-ihmāl, but became a permanent part of the letter. Previously this sign could also appear above the medial form ofkāf, instead of the stroke on itsascender.
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The letter is namedkāf, and it is written in several ways depending on its position in the word.
There are four variants of the letter:
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ك | ـك | ـكـ | كـ |
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ک | ـک | ـکـ | کـ |
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ڪ | ـڪ | ـڪـ | ڪـ |
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | گ | ـگ | ـگـ | گـ |
Other than the four variants of the letterkāf as mentioned below, there are also five other variants of the Persian lettergaf, namely,
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ݢ | ـݢ | ـݢـ | ݢـ |
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ڮ | ـڮ | ـڮـ | ڮـ |
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ࢴ | ـࢴ | ـࢴـ | ࢴـ |
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ګ | ـګ | ـګـ | ګـ |
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ࢰ | ـࢰ | ـࢰـ | ࢰـ |
InOttoman Turkish,Chagatai,Kazakh,Kyrgyz,Azerbaijani,Uyghur,Moroccan Arabic,Xiao'erjing script, the Arabic letterng has two forms, namely:
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ݣ | ـݣ | ـݣـ | ݣـ |
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ڭ | ـڭ | ـڭـ | ڭـ |
There is also one another variant of the letterng, which is the letterkhe with three dots below, and it is thus written as:
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ݤ | ـݤ | ـݤـ | ݤـ |
In theSindhi alphabet, the lettergaf with two dots above is used, and it is thus written as:
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ڱ | ـڱ | ـڱـ | ڱـ |
There is also lettergueh in the Sindhi alphabet.Gueh is thus written as:
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ڳ | ـڳ | ـڳـ | ڳـ |
Before 1928, the Nogai alphabet was written in Arabic script. There is one such letter based on a basic form ofkāf with three dots below, and it is thus written as:
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ڮ | ـڮ | ـڮـ | ڮـ |
Invarieties of Arabickāf is almost universally pronounced as thevoiceless velar plosive/k/, but inrural Palestinian andIraqi, it is pronounced as avoiceless postalveolar affricate[t͡ʃ].
In Arabic,kāf, when used as a prefixكَـka, functions as a comparativepreposition (أداة التشبيه, such asمِثْل/miθl/ orشَبَه/ʃabah/)[3] and can carry the meaning of English words"like","as", or"as though" . For example,كَطَائِر (/katˤaːʔir/), means "like a bird" or "as though a bird" (as in Hebrew, above) and attached toذٰلِك/ðaːlik/ "this, that" forms the fixed expressionكَذٰلِك/kaðaːlik/ "like so, likewise."
When adjoined at the end of a word,kāf is used as apossessive suffix for second-person singular nouns (feminine takingkāf-kasrahكِ,/ki/ and masculinekāf-fatḥahكَ/ka/); for instance,كِتَابkitāb ("book") becomesكِتَابُكَkitābuka ("your book", where the person spoken to is masculine)كِتَابُكِkitābuki ("your book", where the person spoken to is feminine). At the ends of sentences and often in conversation the final vowel is suppressed, and thusكِتَابُكkitābuk ("your book"). In several varieties of vernacular Arabic, however, thekāf with noharakat is the standard second-person possessive, with the literary Arabic harakah shifted to the letterbefore thekāf: thus masculine "your book" in these varieties isكِتَابَكkitābak and feminine "your book"كِتَابِكkitābik.
Orthographic variants | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Various print fonts | Cursive Hebrew | Rashi script | ||
Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced | ||
כ | כ | כ | ![]() | ![]() |
Hebrew spelling:כַּף
The letter kaf is one of the six letters that can receive adagesh kal. The other five arebet,gimel,daleth,pe, andtav (seeHebrew alphabet for more about these letters).
There are two orthographic variants of this letter that alter the pronunciation:
Name | Symbol | IPA | Transliteration[4] | Example |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kaf | כּ | [k] | k | kangaroo |
Khaf | כ | [χ] or[x] | ḵ, ch, or kh | loch |
When the kaph has a "dot" in its center, known as adagesh, it represents avoiceless velar plosive (/k/). There are various rules inHebrew grammar that stipulate when and why a dagesh is used.
When this letter appears asכwithout thedagesh ("dot") in its center it represents[χ], like thech in German "Bach", or[x], likech in Scottish English "loch".
Inmodern Israeli Hebrew the letterheth is often pronounced the same way. However,Mizrahi Jews andPalestinian Arabs living in Israel have differentiated between these letters as in other Semitic languages.
Orthographic variants | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Various Print Fonts | Cursive Hebrew | Rashi script | ||
Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced | ||
ך | ך | ך | ![]() | ![]() |
If the letter is at the end of a word the symbol is drawn differently. However, it does not change the pronunciation ortransliteration in any way. The name for the letter isfinal kaf (kaf sofit). Four additional Hebrew letters take final forms:mem,nun,pei andtsadi. Kaf/khaf is the only Hebrew letter that can take a vowel in its word-final form, which is pronounced after the consonant, that vowel being theqamatz.
Name | Alternate name | Symbol |
---|---|---|
Final kaf | Kaf sofit | ךּ |
Final khaf | Khaf sofit | ך |
Ingematria, kaph represents the number 20. Its final form represents 500, but this is rarely used,tav andqoph (400+100) being used instead.
As aprefix, kaph is apreposition:
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) | ܟ | ـܟ | ـܟـ | ܟـ |
Preview | כ | כּ | ך | ךּ | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | HEBREW LETTER KAF | HEBREW LETTER KAF WITH DAGESH | HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF | HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF WITH DAGESH | ||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 1499 | U+05DB | 64315 | U+FB3B | 1498 | U+05DA | 64314 | U+FB3A |
UTF-8 | 215 155 | D7 9B | 239 172 187 | EF AC BB | 215 154 | D7 9A | 239 172 186 | EF AC BA |
Numeric character reference | כ | כ | כּ | כּ | ך | ך | ךּ | ךּ |
Preview | ك | ﻛ | ﻜ | ﻚ | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER KAF | ARABIC LETTER KAF INITIAL FORM | ARABIC LETTER KAF MEDIAL FORM | ARABIC LETTER KAF FINAL FORM | ||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 1603 | U+0643 | 65243 | U+FEDB | 65244 | U+FEDC | 65242 | U+FEDA |
UTF-8 | 217 131 | D9 83 | 239 187 155 | EF BB 9B | 239 187 156 | EF BB 9C | 239 187 154 | EF BB 9A |
Numeric character reference | ك | ك | ﻛ | ﻛ | ﻜ | ﻜ | ﻚ | ﻚ |
Preview | 𐤊 | 𐡊 | ܟ | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | PHOENICIAN LETTER KAF | IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER KAPH | SYRIAC LETTER KAPH | |||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 67850 | U+1090A | 67658 | U+1084A | 1823 | U+071F |
UTF-8 | 240 144 164 138 | F0 90 A4 8A | 240 144 161 138 | F0 90 A1 8A | 220 159 | DC 9F |
UTF-16 | 55298 56586 | D802 DD0A | 55298 56394 | D802 DC4A | 1823 | 071F |
Numeric character reference | 𐤊 | 𐤊 | 𐡊 | 𐡊 | ܟ | ܟ |