Kaph (also spelled Kap or Kaf) is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . Its value is IPA .

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Kappa (Κ), Latin K, and the equivalent in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Origin of Kaph

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Kaph is thought to have been derived from a pictogram of a hand (in both modern Hebrew and modern Arabic, kaph means palm).

Hebrew Kaf

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Hebrew Pronunciation

This letter is pronounced like the English letter K (IPA: /k/) with a dagesh; when this letter appears without the dagesh in its center then it is usually pronounced like a velar fricative (IPA: /x/); similar to ch in German "Bach".

Variations on written form/pronunciation

The letter Kaph is one of the six letters which can receive a Dagesh Kal. The six are Bet, Gimel, Daleth, Kaph, Pe, and Tav (see Hebrew Alphabet for more about these letters).

There are two orthographic variants of this letter which alter the pronunciation:

• כּ — kaph — /k/

and

• כ — chaph — /x/

Kaph with the dagesh

When the Kaph has a "dot" in its center, known as a dagesh, then it is pronounced as Kaph, making the same sound that the English K makes when pronounced. There are various rules in Hebrew grammar that stipulate when and why a dagesh is used. The ^* is a velar plosive.

Kaph without the dagesh (Chaph)

When this letter appears as כ without the dagesh ("dot") in its center then it is pronounced as Chaph; this is pronounced as a velar fricative (IPA: /x/).

In modern Israeli Hebrew the pronunciation of Kaph is the same as the pronunciation of Heth, but many communities have differentiated between them.

Final form of Kaph

At the end of words the letter's written form changes to a Chaph Sophit (Final Chaph):

• ך This does not alter the pronunciation; it is pronounced as Chaph (see above).

No longer commonly used in modern Hebrew, biblical Hebrew had a Kaph Sophit (Final Kaph):

• ךּ This does not alter the pronunciation; it is pronounced as Kaph (see above).

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". This is an abbreviation of כּמו, k'mo (like/as)
• In colloquial Hebrew, Kaph and Shin together have the meaning of "when". This is a contraction of כּאשר, ka'asher (when).

Phoenician alphabet | Arabic letters

כ | Kaph | Kaf | Kaf (lettre) | Kaf | כ | ك | Kaf (letter) | Kaf