か

See also: が, か゚, and ゕ

か	U+304B, か HIRAGANA LETTER KA

← お
[U+304A]

Hiragana

が →
[U+304C]

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Stroke order

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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)

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)

Etymology 2

More information Alternative spellings ...

Alternative spellings
乎 (literary, obsolete) 歟 (literary, obsolete) カヵ

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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.
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.”)
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.

Etymology 3

First cited to The Tale of Genji (c. 1001-1014).^[1]

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

[1]
“か”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006

[1] [1]
“か”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006

[1]