か

See also: が, か゚, and ゕ

か U+304B, か HIRAGANA LETTER KA ← お [U+304A] Hiragana が → [U+304C]

Japanese

Stroke order

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ka̠]

• Audio:

  (file)

Syllable

か • (ka) 

1. 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, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, 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) 

1. 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.

   1. 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.”)

   3. 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?)

   4. 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.”)

   5. 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.”)

2. 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-) 

1. (emphatic, before an adjective, no longer 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) 

1. 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 do not have a page created for them yet: 何, 苛, 嫁, 暇, 禍, 靴, 稼, 瓜, 禾, 伽, 迦, 嘉, 霞, 戈, 卦, 呵, 訛, 訶, 窩.)