# Kaph

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 (in abjadi order). It is also related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪋‎, South Arabian 𐩫, and Ge'ez ከ.
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek kappa (Κ), Latin K, and Cyrillic К.

## Origin

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 small ک above the kāf 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 of kāf, instead of the stroke on its ascender.

## Arabic kāf

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:
* The basic form is used for the Arabic language and many other languages and is the Naskh glyph form.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ك‎ | ـك‎ | ـكـ‎ | كـ‎ |
* The cross-barred form, al-kāf al-mashkūlah or al-kāf al-mashqūqah, is the Nastaliq form used predominantly in the Perso-Arabic script and as an alternative form of the version above in all forms of Arabic. It has a particular use in the Sindhi language of Pakistan where it represents the aspirated /kʰ/ and is called keheh.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ک‎ | ـک‎ | ـکـ‎ | کـ‎ |
* The long s-shaped variant form, al-kāf al-mabsūṭah, which is used in Arabic texts and in Thuluth and Kufic. It is a separate letter in the Sindhi language of Pakistan, where it represents the unaspirated /k/.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ڪ‎ | ـڪ‎ | ـڪـ‎ | ڪـ‎ |
* The variant of letter khe in Persian, and in Tausug with a line above named gaf is used, and it is thus written as:
| 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 five other variants of the Persian letter gaf, namely,
* the letter khe with one dot above is used in the Jawi alphabet, and it is thus written as:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ݢ‎‎ | ـݢ‎‎ | ـݢ‎ـ‎ | ݢ‎ـ‎ |
* the letter kāf with three dots below is used in the Pegon alphabet, using a modified basic form of kāf, and it is thus written as:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ڮ‎‎ | ـڮ‎‎ | ـڮ‎ـ‎ | ڮ‎ـ‎ |
* the letter kāf with one dot below is also used in the Pegon alphabet for writing Javanese and Sundanese in Arabic script, but is also used in the Arwi alphabet for the Tamil language to represent /ɡ/, and it is thus written as:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ࢴ‎ | ـࢴ‎ | ـࢴـ‎ | ࢴـ‎ |
* the letter khe with a ring is used in Pashto, and it is thus written as:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ګ‎ | ـګ‎ | ـګـ‎ | ګـ‎ |
* in Chechen, Kabardian, and Adyghe, the Arabic character ࢰ‎ is used to spell /kʼ/ or /t͡ʃʼ/. In Chechen, ⟨گ‎⟩ is alternatively used as well.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ࢰ‎ | ـࢰ‎ | ـࢰـ‎ | ࢰـ‎ |
In Ottoman Turkish, Chagatai, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijani, Uyghur, Moroccan Arabic, Xiao'erjing script, the Arabic letter ng has two forms, namely:
* the letter khe with three dots above is used, and thus it is written as:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ݣ‎ | ـݣ‎ | ـݣـ‎ | ݣـ‎ |
* the basic form of the letter kāf with three dots is used, and thus it is written as:
| 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 |
In varieties 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].

### As an affix
#### Prefix

In Arabic, kāf, when used as a prefix كَـ ka, functions as a comparative preposition (أداة التشبيه, such as مِثْل /miθl/ or شَبَه /ʃabah/) 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."

#### Possessive suffix

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.

## Hebrew kaf

Orthographic variants :
| Various print fonts | Various print fonts | Various print fonts | Cursive Hebrew | Rashi script |
| Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced | Cursive Hebrew | Rashi script |
| כ | כ | כ | | |
Hebrew spelling: כַּף‎

### Hebrew pronunciation

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 | IPA | Transliteration | Example |
| Kaf | כּ‎ | [k] | k | kangaroo |
| Khaf | כ‎ | [χ] or [x] | ḵ, ch, or kh | loch |

#### Kaf with the dagesh

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.

#### Kaf without the dagesh (khaf)

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".
In modern Israeli Hebrew the letter heth is often pronounced the same way. However, Mizrahi Jews and Palestinian Arabs living in Israel have differentiated between these letters as in other Semitic languages.

#### Final form of kaf

Orthographic variants :
| Various Print Fonts | Various Print Fonts | Various Print Fonts | Cursive Hebrew | Rashi script |
| Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced | Cursive Hebrew | Rashi script |
| 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 |

### Significance of kaph in Hebrew

In gematria, 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:
* It can mean "like" or "as", as in literary Arabic (see above).
* In colloquial Hebrew, kaph and shin together have the meaning of "when". This is a contraction of כַּאֲשֶׁר‎, ka'asher (when).

## Syriac kap

| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
| Glyph form: (Help) | ܟ‎‎ | ـܟ‎‎ | ـܟ‎ـ‎ | ܟ‎ـ‎ |

## Character encodings

Character information :
| Preview | כ | כ | כּ | כּ | ך | ך | ךּ | ךּ |
| Unicode name | HEBREW LETTER KAF | HEBREW LETTER KAF | HEBREW LETTER KAF WITH DAGESH | HEBREW LETTER KAF WITH DAGESH | HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF | HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF | HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF WITH DAGESH | 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 | &#1499; | &#x5DB; | &#64315; | &#xFB3B; | &#1498; | &#x5DA; | &#64314; | &#xFB3A; |
Character information :
| Preview | ك | ك | ﻛ | ﻛ | ﻜ | ﻜ | ﻚ | ﻚ |
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER KAF | ARABIC LETTER KAF | ARABIC LETTER KAF INITIAL FORM | ARABIC LETTER KAF INITIAL FORM | ARABIC LETTER KAF MEDIAL FORM | ARABIC LETTER KAF MEDIAL FORM | ARABIC LETTER KAF FINAL 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 | &#1603; | &#x643; | &#65243; | &#xFEDB; | &#65244; | &#xFEDC; | &#65242; | &#xFEDA; |
Character information :
| Preview | 𐤊 | 𐤊 | 𐡊 | 𐡊 | ܟ | ܟ |
| Unicode name | PHOENICIAN LETTER KAF | PHOENICIAN LETTER KAF | IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER KAPH | IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER KAPH | SYRIAC 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 | &#67850; | &#x1090A; | &#67658; | &#x1084A; | &#1823; | &#x71F; |