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)

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

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)

(final)
1. (interrogative) marks a statement as a question
  お元(げん)気(き)ですか。 ― O-genki desu ka. ― How are you?
2. (with verbs in volitional) used to make suggestions; shall we … ?; could we … ?
  行(い)こうか。 ― Ikō ka. ― Shall we go?
3. (with ない (nai)) used to issue commands; would you … !; will you … !
  やめないか！ ― Yamenai ka! ― Will you stop!
(adverbial)
1. marks indefiniteness; some
  誰(だれ)か ― dareka ― someone (literally, “who indefinite”)
  
  何(なに)か ― nanika ― something (literally, “what indefinite”)
  
  誰(だれ)かが何(なに)かを食(た)べる。
  Dareka ga nanika o taberu.
  Someone eats something.
2. marks doubt or supposition; perhaps; maybe; whether or not
  かも知(し)れない ― ka mo shirenai ― perhaps (literally, “can't know whether”)
  
  行(い)くか知(し)らない。 ― Iku ka shiranai. ― I don't know if he'll go.
  
  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.
  
  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)....
  2. カ, ヵ: used to mark uncertainty in non-conversation factual statements, such as data or proofreading
    時(じ)代(だい)：江(え)戸(ど)中(ちゅう)期(き)ヵ ― Jidai: Edo-chūki ka ― Period: mid-Edo period?
    
    壹(いち)升(ます)〔斗(と)ヵ〕 ― ichimasu [-to ka] ― one masu (sic: to?)
(parallel-marking)
1. marks a disjunction; 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.
  - 1914, 夏目漱石 [Natsume Sōseki], chapter 17, in こゝろ [Kokoro], 下先生と遺書 [Sensei's Testament]:
    その上(うえ)私(わたくし)は色(いろ)々(いろ)世(せ)話(わ)になるという口(こう)実(じつ)の下(もと)に、お嬢(じょう)さんの気(き)に入(い)るような帯(おび)か反(たん)物(もの)を買(か)ってやりたかったのです。
    Sono ue watakushi wa iroiro sewa ni naru to iu kōjitsu no moto ni, O-jō-san no ki ni iru yō na obi ka tanmono o katte yaritakatta no desu.
    On top of that, under the pretence that I had received so much of her care, I wanted to buy O-jō-san an obi or some fabric that she might like.

Usage notes

Final particle (etymology 2 sense 1):
- 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.
Parallel-marking particle (etymology 2 sense 3):
- Appears after all elements of the list (AかBかCか), or may be omitted from the last (AかBかC).

Etymology 3

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

Prefix

か • (ka-)

(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)

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 Alternative spelling カ

【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 Wuxing (Chinese philosophy) 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	[noun] department, section [noun] (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.)

References

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

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

[1]