Ka (kana)

か, in hiragana, or カ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both represent [ka]. The shapes of these kana both originate from 加.

The character can be combined with a dakuten, to form が in hiragana, ガ in katakana, and ga in Hepburn romanization. The phonetic value of the modified character is [ɡa] in initial positions, and varying between [ŋa] and [ɣa] in the middle of words.

A handakuten (゜) does not occur with ka in normal Japanese text, but it may be used by linguists to indicate a nasal pronunciation [ŋa].

か is the most commonly used interrogatory particle. It is also sometimes used to delimit choices.

が is used to denote the focus of attention in a sentence, especially to the grammatical subject.

Stroke order

The Hiragana か is made with three strokes:

1. A horizontal line which turns and ends in a hook facing left.
2. A curved vertical line that cuts through the first line.
3. A small curved line on the right.

The Katakana カ is made with two strokes:

1. A horizontal line which turns and ends in a hook facing left.
2. A curved vertical line that cuts through the first line.

Other communicative representations

In Japanese Braille, か or カ is represented as:

The Wabun code for か, or カ, is ・－・・.