𐤊
כ
𐡊
ܟ
ك
Position in alphabet
11
Numerical value
20
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
Kaph (also spelled kaf) is the eleventh letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician kāp 𐤊, Hebrew kāp̄ כ, Aramaic kāp 𐡊, Syriac kāp̄ ܟ, and Arabic kāf ك (inabjadi order).
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek kappa (Κ), Latin K, and Cyrillic К.
Kaph is thought to be derived from a pictogram of a hand (in both modern Arabic and modern Hebrew, kaph כף means "palm" or "grip"), though in Arabic the a in the name of the letter (كاف) is pronounced longer than the a in the word meaning "palm" (كَف).
The letter is named kāf, 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 letter kāf as mentioned below, there are also three another variants of the Persian letter gaf, 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
InOttoman Turkish, Chagatai, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijani, Uyghur, Moroccan Arabic, Xiao'erjing script, the Arabic letter ng 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 letter ng, which is the letter khe 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 the Sindhi alphabet, the letter gaf 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 letter gueh 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 of kāf 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 Arabic kāf is almost universally pronounced as the voiceless velar plosive /k/, but in rural Palestinian and Iraqi, it is pronounced as a voiceless postalveolar affricate [t͡ʃ].
In Arabic, kāf, when used as a prefix كَـ ka, functions as a comparative preposition (أداة التشبيه, such as مِثْل /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 to ذٰلِك /ðaːlik/ "this, that" forms the fixed expression كَذٰلِك /kaðaːlik/ "like so, likewise."
When adjoined at the end of a word, kāf is used as a possessive suffix for second-person singular nouns (feminine taking kāf-kasrah كِ, /ki/ and masculine kāf-fatḥah كَ /ka/); for instance, كِتَاب kitāb ("book") becomes كِتَابُكَ kitābuka ("your book", where the person spoken to is masculine) كِتَابُكِ kitābuki ("your book", where the person spoken to is feminine). At the ends of sentences and often in conversation the final vowel is suppressed, and thus كِتَابُك kitābuk ("your book"). In several varieties of vernacular Arabic, however, the kāf with no harakat is the standard second-person possessive, with the literary Arabic harakah shifted to the letter before the kāf: thus masculine "your book" in these varieties is كِتَابَك kitābak and feminine "your book" كِتَابِك kitābik.
Orthographic variants
Various print fonts
Serif
כ
כ
כ
Hebrew spelling: כַּף
The letter kaf is one of the six letters that can receive a dagesh kal. The other five are bet, gimel, daleth, pe, and tav (see Hebrew alphabet for more about these letters).
There are two orthographic variants of this letter that alter the pronunciation:
Name
Symbol
Example
Kaf
כּ
[k]
k
kangaroo
Khaf
כ
ḵ, ch, or kh
loch
When the kaph has a "dot" in its center, known as a dagesh, it represents a voiceless velar plosive (/k/). There are various rules in Hebrew grammar that stipulate when and why a dagesh is used.
When this letter appears as כ without the dagesh ("dot") in its center it represents [χ], like the ch in German "Bach", or [x], like ch in Scottish English "loch".
Inmodern Israeli Hebrew the letter heth is often pronounced the same way. However, Mizrahi Jews and Israeli Arabs have differentiated between these letters as in other Semitic languages.
Orthographic variants
Various Print Fonts
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 or transliteration in any way. The name for the letter is final kaf (kaf sofit). Four additional Hebrew letters take final forms: mem, nun, pei and tsadi. 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 the qamatz.
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 and qoph (400+100) being used instead.
As a prefix, kaph is a preposition:
Character information
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
1499
U+05DB
64315
U+FB3B
1498
U+05DA
64314
U+FB3A
215 155
D7 9B
239 172 187
EF AC BB
215 154
D7 9A
239 172 186
EF AC BA
כ
כ
כּ
כּ
ך
ך
ךּ
ךּ
Character information
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
1603
U+0643
65243
U+FEDB
65244
U+FEDC
65242
U+FEDA
217 131
D9 83
239 187 155
EF BB 9B
239 187 156
EF BB 9C
239 187 154
EF BB 9A
ك
ك
ﻛ
ﻛ
ﻜ
ﻜ
ﻚ
ﻚ
Character information
Preview
𐤊
𐡊
ܟ
Unicode name
PHOENICIAN LETTER KAF
IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER KAPH
SYRIAC LETTER KAPH
Encodings
decimal
hex
dec
hex
dec
hex
67850
U+1090A
67658
U+1084A
1823
U+071F
240 144 164 138
F0 90 A4 8A
240 144 161 138
F0 90 A1 8A
220 159
DC 9F
55298 56586
D802 DD0A
55298 56394
D802 DC4A
1823
071F
𐤊
𐤊
𐡊
𐡊
ܟ
ܟ
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