か

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

• IPA^(key): [ka̠]

• Audio:

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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”).

• が (ga)

• (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

From Proto-Japonic *ka.

• (dialect) け (ke), けえ (kē)

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)....

• 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.

• ね (ne)

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

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)

From Old Japanese. Only persists in stems. No longer productive in Modern Japanese.

か • (-ka) 

1. forms 形容動詞 (keiyō dōshi, “-na adjectives”) from stems, indicating the state or feeling of an object

• 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”)

(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.)