ك (kāf) is letter 22 of the 28 in the Arabic alphabet, between ق qāf and ل lām. Its sound is k, as in kite. It joins on both sides, so it has four shapes: ك ك ك ك. It is a moon letter, and its abjad value is 20.
Hear its name, كاف (kāf):
Kāf in all four positions
Kāf joins to the letter before it and to the letter after it, so its shape depends on where it sits in a word. Alone it is ك. At the start of a word it is ك, in the middle ك, and at the end ك.
| Position | Shape | Code point | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isolated | ك | U+FED9 | written alone, or after a letter that does not join forward |
| Initial | ك | U+FEDB | at the start of a word or a piece of a word |
| Medial | ك | U+FEDC | between two letters that join it |
| Final | ك | U+FEDA | at the end of a word, joined from the letter before |
Typed text stores all four shapes as one character, U+0643 (ARABIC LETTER KAF); the codes in the table, U+FED9 to U+FEDC, are presentation forms that the Unicode Arabic FAQ does not recommend for regular text.
Kāf is number 8 of the 28 letters by frequency, 3.9% of all letters, in the 50,000 most common word forms of Arabic film and TV subtitles (hermitdave/FrequencyWords, OpenSubtitles 2018), each form counted as often as it occurs; it is initial in 34%, medial in 29%, final in 29% and alone in 8% of its occurrences.
How to pronounce kāf
The sound of kāf is k, as in kite, written k in the transliteration of our Arabic alphabet chart.
Arabic words with kāf
These 5 everyday words show kāf in real writing: it is initial in كتاب, كلب and كرسي; medial in سكر; final in سمك. The first three are the practice words printed on its worksheet; the others come from our Arabic pronunciation guide and other letters' worksheets, and more words by topic are in our Arabic vocabulary lists.
| Word | Transliteration | Meaning | Kāf here | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| كتاب | kitāb | book | initial | |
| سكر | sukkar | sugar | medial | |
| سمك | samak | fish | final | |
| كلب | kalb | dog | initial | |
| كرسي | kursī | chair | initial |
Kāf with al-, and its number
Kāf is a moon letter, so the l of al- (the) is pronounced before it: الكتاب is al-kitāb, the book (test any word in our sun and moon letters checker).
Its abjad value is 20 in both the Mashriqi and the Maghribi order; our abjad calculator adds up whole words.
How to tell kāf apart
Kāf is one of the letters with no dotted twin, so its shape alone identifies it. Kāf is the k of English, said where English says it. Its partner in sound is qāf ق, made further back: كَلْب kalb is a dog, قَلْب qalb a heart. Kuwaiti and Qatari speech turn kāf into ch next to an i sound.
Practise writing kāf
Trace it on the free kāf tracing worksheet (PDF, one page, 64 KB), which prints its four shapes beside كتاب (kitāb), سكر (sukkar) and سمك (samak); the other 27 are on our Arabic writing worksheets page.
Words and names that start with kāf: Kareem in Arabic.
Frequently asked questions
How do you pronounce the Arabic letter kāf?
The sound of kāf (ك) is k, as in kite, written k in transliteration.
Does kāf join to the next letter?
Yes. Kāf joins on both sides, so it has four forms: ك alone, ك at the start of a word, ك in the middle and ك at the end.
Is kāf a sun letter or a moon letter?
A moon letter. Before kāf the l of al- is pronounced, so الكتاب is al-kitāb (the book).
What is the abjad value of kāf?
20, in both the Mashriqi and the Maghribi order.