Qoph or Qop is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet (in abjadi order). Its value is a pharyngealized velar stop, IPA , see also emphatic consonant.

It became over time the letter Q in the Latin alphabet, and the letter Qoppa in certain early varieties of the Greek alphabet.

Origins of Qoph

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The origin of Qoph is usually thought to have come from a pictogram of a monkey, with the body and tail shown (In Hebrew, Qoph, spelled in Hebrew letters as קוף, means "monkey", and K'of in Old Egyptian meant a type of monkey). Others have proposed that it originated from a pictogram of someone's head and neck (Qaph in Arabic meant the nape).

Qoph in Hebrew

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Hebrew Pronunciation

Qoph is usually pronounced in modern Israeli Hebrew like the English K; i.e., no distinction is made between Qoph and Kaph. However, many historical groups have made that distinction, with Qoph being pronounced as a voiceless uvular plosive by Iraqi Jews and other Sephardim (IPA: /q/) or even as a voiced velar plosive by Yemenite Jews (IPA: /g/).

Significance of Qoph

Qoph in gematria represents the number 100. Sarah is described in Genesis Rabba as "בת ק' כבת כ' שנה לחטא", literally At Qoph years of age, she was like Kaph years of age in sin (i.e. when she was 100 years old, she was as sinless as when she was 20).

Qoph is used in an Israeli phrase: after a child will say something false, one might say "B'Shin Qoph, Resh" (With Shin, Qoph, Resh). These letters spell Sheqer, which is the Hebrew word for a lie. It would be akin to an English speaker saying "That's a L-I-E."

Phoenician alphabet | Arabic letters

ק | Qop (lizherenn) | Koph | Kuf | Qof (lettre) | ק | Kof | ق | Kof