כ — kaf
«kaf» is a consonant of the Hebrew script, read as “k / kh (the dagesh decides)”. With a dagesh it is k, without it a throaty kh. For example, in the word “כאן” — here. The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters in total. The second begad-kefat letter. At the start of a word usually k: כאן — kan; at the end of a syllable more often kh: שלומך — shlomkha. It appears, for example, in the word “כן” — yes.
In short
| Character | כ |
| Name | kaf |
| Sound | k / kh (the dagesh decides) |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 11th of 22, its neighbours in the course are י and ל, appears in 531 words of this site.
How to type כ
- On a phone: add the Hebrew keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+05DB and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 05DB.
- Unicode code point: U+05DB. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
With a dagesh it is k, without it a throaty kh
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- כאןканhere
The character in the “three letters that change their sound (begad-kefat)” group
ב, כ and פ sound different depending on the dagesh — the dot inside the letter. A working rule: at the start of a word, after a pause, read the stop — "b", "k", "p". Elsewhere, trust the transcription. The name is a mnemonic: the six letters that once had doubles spell out the phrase begad kefat.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «kaf» it is “k / kh (the dagesh decides)”, as in the word “כאן”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 22 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Hebrew character כ read?
As “k / kh (the dagesh decides)” — it is a consonant of the Hebrew script. With a dagesh it is k, without it a throaty kh. For example, in the word “כאן” — here.
What is the letter כ called?
Kaf. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Hebrew script: it is called “kaf” and reads as “k / kh (the dagesh decides)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.