# Voiceless velar plosive

The voiceless velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨k⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k.
The [k] sound is a very common sound cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain [k], and some distinguish more than one variety. Most Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindi and Bengali, have a two-way contrast between aspirated and plain [k]. Only a few languages lack a voiceless velar plosive, e.g. Tahitian and Mongolian.
Some languages have the voiceless pre-velar plosive, which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical velar plosive, though not as front as the prototypical palatal plosive.
Conversely, some languages have the voiceless post-velar plosive, which is articulated slightly behind the place of articulation of the prototypical velar plosive, though not as back as the prototypical uvular plosive.

## Features

Features of the voiceless velar stop:
* Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
* Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
* Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
* It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
* It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
* Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

## Varieties

| IPA | Description |
| k | plain k |
| kʰ | aspirated k |
| kʲ | palatalized k |
| kʷ | labialized k |
| k̚ | k with no audible release |
| k̬ | voiced k |
| k͈ | tense k |
| kʼ | ejective k |

## Occurrence

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Abkhaz | Abkhaz | ақалақь/ak̇halak̇h' | [ˈakalakʲ] | 'the city' | See Abkhaz phonology |
| Adyghe | Shapsug | кьэт/k′ėt | | 'chicken' | Dialectal; corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in other dialects. |
| Adyghe | Temirgoy | пскэн/pskėn | [pskan] | 'to cough' | Dialectal; corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in other dialects. |
| Ahtna | Ahtna | gistaann | [kɪstʰɐːn] | 'six' | |
| Aleut | Aleut | kiikax̂ | [kiːkaχ] | 'cranberry bush' | |
| Arabic | Modern Standard | كتب/kataba | [ˈkatabɐ] | 'he wrote' | See Arabic phonology |
| Armenian | Eastern | քաղաք/ k'aġak'/k'aghak | [kʰɑˈʁɑkʰ] | 'town' | Contrasts with unaspirated form. |
| Assamese | Assamese | কম/kom | [kɔm] | 'less' | |
| Assyrian | Assyrian | ܟܬܒ̣ܐ ctava | [ktava] | 'book' | Used in most varieties, with the exception of the Urmia and Nochiya dialects where it corresponds to [t͡ʃ]. |
| Basque | Basque | katu | [kat̪u] | 'cat' | |
| Bengali | Bengali | কম/kom | [kɔm] | 'less' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology |
| Bulgarian | Bulgarian | как/kak | [kak] | 'how' | See Bulgarian phonology |
| Cantonese | Cantonese | 家/gā | | 'home' | See Cantonese phonology |
| Cantonese | Cantonese | 橋/桥/kìuh | [kʰi:u˨˩] | 'bridge' | See Cantonese phonology |
| Catalan | Catalan | cors | [ˈkɔɾs] | 'hearts' | See Catalan phonology |
| Chuvash | Chuvash | кукка | [ku'kːɑ] | 'mother's brother' |
| Czech | Czech | kost | [kost] | 'bone' | See Czech phonology |
| Danish | Standard | gås | [ˈkɔ̽ːs] | 'goose' | Usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɡ̊⟩ or ⟨ɡ⟩. Contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʰ⟩ or ⟨k⟩. See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Dutch | koning | [ˈkoːnɪŋ] | 'king' | See Dutch phonology |
| English | English | kiss | | 'kiss' | See English phonology |
| Esperanto | Esperanto | rakonto | [raˈkonto] | 'tale' | See Esperanto phonology |
| Estonian | Estonian | kõik | [kɤik] | 'all' | See Estonian phonology |
| Filipino | Filipino | kuto | [ˈkuto] | 'lice' | |
| Finnish | Finnish | kakku | [kɑkːu] | 'cake' | See Finnish phonology |
| French | French | cabinet | [kabinɛ] | 'office' | See French phonology |
| Georgian | Georgian | ქვა/kva | [kʰva] | 'stone' | |
| German | German | Käfig | [ˈkʰɛːfɪç] | 'cage' | See Standard German phonology |
| Greek | Greek | καλόγερος / kalógeros | [kaˈlo̞ʝe̞ro̞s̠] | 'monk' | See Modern Greek phonology |
| Gujarati | Gujarati | કાંદો/kaṃde | [kɑːnd̪oː] | 'onion' | See Gujarati phonology |
| Hebrew | Hebrew | כסף / kesef | [ˈkesef] | 'money' | See Modern Hebrew phonology |
| Hiligaynon | Hiligaynon | kadlaw | [kad̪law] | 'laugh' | |
| Hindustani | Hindustani | काम / کام | [kɑːm] | 'work' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology |
| Hokkien | Hokkien | 歌/koa | [kua˧˨] | 'song' | See Hokkien phonology |
| Hokkien | Hokkien | 區/区/khu | [kʰu˧˨] | 'district' | See Hokkien phonology |
| Hungarian | Hungarian | akkor | [ɒkkor] | 'then' | See Hungarian phonology |
| Ibaloi | Ibaloi | Koma | | 'rubber' | |
| Italian | Italian | casa | [ˈkäːzä] | 'house' | See Italian phonology |
| Japanese | Japanese | 鞄 / kaban | [kabaɴ] | 'handbag' | See Japanese phonology |
| Kagayanen | Kagayanen | kalag | [kað̞aɡ] | 'spirit' | |
| Khmer | Khmer | កម្ពុជា / kâmpŭchéa | [kampuciːə] | 'Cambodia' | See Khmer phonology |
| Korean | Korean | 감자 / kamja | [kamdʑa] | 'potato' | See Korean phonology |
| Lakota | Lakota | kimímela | [kɪˈmɪmela] | 'butterfly' | |
| Luxembourgish | Luxembourgish | geess | [ˈkeːs] | 'goat' | Less often voiced [ɡ]. It is usually transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɡ⟩, and it contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed ⟨k⟩. See Luxembourgish phonology |
| Macedonian | Macedonian | кој | [kɔj] | 'who' | See Macedonian phonology |
| Marathi | Marathi | कवच | [kəʋət͡s] | 'armour' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Marathi phonology |
| Malay | Malay | kaki | [käki] | 'leg' | Unreleased in syllable codas in some words, See Malay phonology |
| Malayalam | Malayalam | കഥ/kada | [käd̪ʰä] | 'story' | See Malayalam phonology |
| Mandarin | Mandarin | 高/gāo | | 'high' | See Mandarin phonology |
| Mandarin | Mandarin | 烤/kǎo | [kʰɑʊ˨˩˦] | 'roast' (v.) | See Mandarin phonology |
| Nepali | Nepali | केरा | [keɾä] | 'banana' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology |
| Norwegian | Norwegian | kake | [kɑːkə] | 'cake' | See Norwegian phonology |
| Odia | Odia | କାମ/kāma | [kämɔ] | 'work' | Contrasts with aspirated form. |
| Pashto | Pashto | كال/kal | [kɑl] | 'year' | |
| Persian | Persian | کارد/kārd | [kɑrd] | 'knife' | |
| Polish | Polish | buk | | 'beech tree' | See Polish phonology |
| Portuguese | Portuguese | corpo | [ˈkoɾpu] | 'body' | See Portuguese phonology |
| Punjabi | Punjabi | ਕਰ/کر/kar | [kəɾ] | 'do' | Contrasts with aspirated form. |
| Romanian | Romanian | când | [ˈkɨnd] | 'when' | See Romanian phonology |
| Russian | Russian | короткий/korotkij | | 'short' | See Russian phonology |
| Serbo-Croatian | Serbo-Croatian | кост / kost | [kȏːs̪t̪] | 'bone' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology |
| Slovak | Slovak | kosť | [kɔ̝sc] | 'bone' | See Slovak phonology |
| Slovene | Slovene | kost | [ˈkôːs̪t̪] | 'bone' | Aspirated before close vowels. See Slovene phonology |
| Spanish | Spanish | casa | [ˈkäsä] | 'house' | See Spanish phonology |
| Swedish | Swedish | ko | [ˈkʰuː] | 'cow' | See Swedish phonology |
| Sylheti | Sylheti | ꠇꠤꠔꠣ/kita | [kɪt̪à] | 'what' | |
| Tamil | Tamil | கை/kai | [kəɪ̯] | 'hand' | See Tamil phonology |
| Telugu | Telugu | కాకి/kāki | [kāki] | 'crow' | Contrasts with aspirated form. |
| Thai | Thai | ไก่/kị̀ | [kaj˨˩] | 'chicken' | Contrasts with an aspirated form. |
| Turkish | Turkish | kulak | [kʰuɫäk] | 'ear' | See Turkish phonology |
| Ubykh | Ubykh | кауар/kawar | [kawar] | 'slat' | Found mostly in loanwords. See Ubykh phonology |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | колесо/koleso | [ˈkɔɫɛsɔ] | 'wheel' | See Ukrainian phonology |
| Vietnamese | Vietnamese | cam | [kam] | 'orange' | See Vietnamese phonology |
| Welsh | Welsh | calon | [kʰalɔn] | 'heart' | See Welsh phonology |
| West Frisian | West Frisian | keal | [kɪəl] | 'calf' | See West Frisian phonology |
| Yi | Yi | ꇰ / ge | [kɤ˧] | 'foolish' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms. |
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan | canza | [kanza] | 'walking' | |