# か

| か | U+304B, &#12363; HIRAGANA LETTER KA |
| ← お [U+304A] | Hiragana | が → [U+304C] |

## Japanese
### Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 加 in the cursive sōsho style.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ka̠]
* Audio:(file)

#### Syllable

か • (ka)
* The hiragana syllable か (ka). Its equivalent in katakana is カ (ka). It is the sixth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is か行あ段 (ka-gyō a-dan, “row ka, section a”).

##### Derived terms

* が (ga)

##### See also

* (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こ𛄲 (𛄲)ご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐 (𛅐)ゐ゙, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ𛅑 (𛅑)ゑ゙, を𛅒 (𛅒)を゙, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

### Etymology 2

* Alternative spellings
* 乎 (literary, obsolete) 歟 (literary, obsolete) カ ヵ
From Proto-Japonic *ka.

#### Alternative forms

* (dialect) け (ke), けえ (kē)

#### Particle

か • (ka)
* interrogative or rhetorical question particle, similar to a question mark ("?").
    お元(げん)気(き)ですか。
       O-genki desu ka.
       How are you?
       (literally, “Are you well?”)
    どうすればいいかわからない。
       Dō sureba ii ka wakaranai.
       I don't know what I should do.
** indefinite particle; "some-"
    誰(だれ)かが何(なに)かを食(た)べる。
       Dareka ga nanika o taberu .
       Someone is eating something.
       (literally, “Who indef is eating what indef.”)
** カ, ヵ: Used to mark uncertainty in non-conversation factual statements, such as data or proofreading
    時代(じだい)：江戸中期(えどちゅうき)ヵ ― Jidai: Edo chūki ka ― Period: mid-Edo period?
    壹升(いちます)〔斗(と)ヵ〕 ― ichi-masu (-to ka) ― one masu (SIC: to?)
** disjunctive particle; "or"
    これか、それか、どっちか選(えら)んでよ。
       Kore ka, sore ka, dotchika erande yo.
       This or that, choose one of them.
       (literally, “This? That? Choose one of them.”)
** whether (or not)
    行(い)くか知(し)らない。
       Iku ka shiranai.
       I don't know whether he'll go.
       (literally, “Will [he] go? [I] don't know.”)
* indication of doubt
    行(い)くかと思(おも)いますが……
       Iku ka to omoimasu ga……
       I think he'll go (but I'm not sure)....

##### Usage notes

* In Classical Japanese, attaches to the rentaikei:
    誰(だれ)が天(てん)地(ち)を造(つく)りしか。
       Dare ga tenchi o tsukurishi ka.
       Who made the heaven and the earth?
* The Japanese full stop is traditionally used in place of a question mark after this particle.

##### See also

* ね (ne)

### Etymology 3

First cited to The Tale of Genji (c. 1001-1014).

#### Prefix

か • (ka-)
* (emphatic, before an adjective, non-productive) very
    ‎か + ‎弱い (yowai) → ‎か弱い (kayowai)
    ‎か + ‎細い (hosoi) → ‎か細い (kabosoi)

### Etymology 4

From Old Japanese. Only persists in stems. No longer productive in Modern Japanese.

#### Suffix

か • (-ka)
* forms 形容動詞 (keiyō dōshi, “-na adjectives”) from stems, indicating the state or feeling of an object

##### Usage notes

* May attach directly to a root.
** ‎静 (shizu-) + ‎か (-ka) → ‎静か (shizuka, “quiet”)
** ‎愚 (oro-) + ‎か (-ka) → ‎愚か (oroka, “foolish”)
** ‎細 (koma-) + ‎か (-ka) → ‎細か (komaka, “tiny; detailed”)
* May be followed in turn by -i adjective-forming suffix しい (-shii).
** ‎愚 (oro-) + ‎か (-ka) + ‎しい (-shii) → ‎愚かしい (orokashii, “foolish”)
** ‎細 (koma-) + ‎か (-ka) + ‎しい (-shii) → ‎細かしい (komakashii, “tiny”, archaic)
* More rarely, may be followed by -i adjective-forming suffix い (-i).
** ‎細 (koma-) + ‎か (-ka) + ‎い (-i) → ‎細かい (komakai, “tiny; detailed”)
** ‎暖 (atata-) + ‎か (-ka) + ‎い (-i) → ‎暖かい (atatakai, “warm”)
* Often follows -na adjective-forming suffixes や (ya) or ら (ra); see also やか (-yaka) and らか (-raka)
** ‎爽 (sawa-) + ‎や (-ya) + ‎か (-ka) → ‎爽やか (sawayaka, “refreshing; clear; eloquent”)
** ‎明 (aki-) + ‎ら (-ra) + ‎か (-ka) → ‎明らか (akiraka, “apparent; clear”)

### Etymology 5

For pronunciation and definitions of か – see the following entries. :
| 【日】1 | [counter] daytimes [counter] number of days |
| 【香】4 | [noun] a pleasant smell; a scent, a fragrance, an aroma |
| 【蚊】S | [noun] mosquito |
| 【鹿】4 | [noun] (archaic) deer |
| 【彼】S | [pronoun] distal demonstrative, something far off removed from both speaker and listener: that, yon |
(This term, か (ka), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as か, see Category:Japanese kanji read as か.) :

### Etymology 6

For pronunciation and definitions of か – see the following entries. :
| 【下】1 | [affix] down; below; beneath [suffix] under a situation |
| 【火】1 | [noun] a fire [noun] one of the five classical elements in traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine: see Wu Xing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia [noun] (historical) under the old 律令 (Ritsuryō) system of ancient Japan, a military grouping, consisting of 10 soldiers: a squad [noun] Short for 火曜日 (kayōbi): Tuesday [affix] fire [affix] light [affix] burning [affix] passion [affix] imminently [affix] explosive [proper noun] Antares, in the constellation Scorpio |
| 【花】1 | [affix] flower [affix] red-light district |
| 【科】2 | [suffix] department, section [suffix] (taxonomy) family |
| 【夏】2 | [proper noun] the Xia dynasty (first dynasty of China) [proper noun] Short for 大夏 (Daika): Xia, one of the Sixteen Kingdoms [proper noun] Short for 西夏 (Seika): Western Xia, an empire during the Song dynasty [proper noun] a surname [proper noun] a male or female given name |
| 【家】2 | [suffix] an expert, professional, performer |
| 【歌】2 | [affix] a song; to sing [affix] Japanese poetry; waka |
| 【化】3 | [affix] to change; to take the form of [affix] to influence [suffix] -ization, -ification; action of making something that way |
| 【荷】3 | [counter] loads that can be carried on one's shoulders |
| 【加】4 | [noun] addition [affix] addition [affix] Short for カナダ (“Canada (a country)”). [affix] (US) Short for 加州 (“California (a state of the United States)”). |
| 【果】4 | [counter] pieces of fruit [noun] fruit [noun] (Buddhism) phala, attained state, result [noun] (Buddhism) enlightenment (as the fruits of one's Buddhist practice) |
| 【貨】4 | [affix] currency [affix] goods [affix] treasure |
| 【課】4 | [counter] lessons [counter] chapters of a book [noun] lesson [noun] section, department [suffix] section, department [suffix] lesson |
| 【可】5 | [noun] C (academic letter grade); passable [noun] allowed [suffix] permitted, allowed, licensed [suffix] -able; can be done |
| 【仮】5 | [prefix] temporary [prefix] unreal, fake, imaginary |
| 【価】5 | [affix] price [affix] value |
| 【河】5 | [affix] river |
| 【過】5 | [noun] fault; error; mistake [noun] the past [noun] excess [prefix] (chemistry) super-, over-; per |
| 【佳】S | [affix] beautiful, good [affix] excellent |
| 【架】S | [noun] a rack; a mount; a stand [counter] flat framed items |
| 【華】S | [noun] flashiness, showiness [proper noun] a surname [proper noun] a male or female given name |
| 【菓】S | [counter] fruit |
| 【渦】S | [affix] eddy, swirl, whirlpool, vortex |
| 【寡】S | [noun] minority |
| 【箇】S | [counter] used with numbers in the ichi-ni-san counting system |
| 【瑕】H | [affix] blemish, flaw [noun] a flaw |
| 【顆】H | [counter] indicates small round things, such as gemstones, fruit, stones, tears [noun] a condyle |
| 【ヶ】 | [counter] 箇: Counter for months, places or provisions of Classical Chinese origin. Alternative spelling 箇 |
(This term, か (ka), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as か, see Category:Japanese kanji read as か.) :
(The following entries are uncreated: 何, 苛, 嫁, 暇, 禍, 靴, 稼, 瓜, 禾, 伽, 迦, 嘉, 霞, 戈, 卦, 呵, 訛, 訶, 窩.)

### References

* ↑ “か”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006