Ka (kana)

ka
hiragana katakana
transliteration	ka
translit. with dakuten	ga
translit. with handakuten	(nga)
hiragana origin	加
katakana origin	加
spelling kana	為替のカ (Kawase no "ka")

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.

Form	Rōmaji	Hiragana	Katakana
Normal k- (か行 ka-gyō)	Ka	か	カ
	kaa kā, kah	かあ, かぁ かー	カア, カァ カー
Addition dakuten g- (が行 ga-gyō)	Ga	が	ガ
	gaa gā, gah	があ, がぁ がー	ガア, ガァ ガー

Stroke order

Stroke order in writing か

Stroke order in writing カ

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

• Computer encodings

Character	か		カ		ｶ		ヵ		が		ガ
Unicode name	HIRAGANA LETTER KA		KATAKANA LETTER KA		HALFWIDTH KATAKANA LETTER KA		KATAKANA LETTER SMALL KA		HIRAGANA LETTER GA		KATAKANA LETTER GA
Encodings	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex
Unicode	12363	U+304B	12459	U+30AB	65398	U+FF76	12533	U+30F5	12364	U+304C	12460	U+30AC
UTF-8	227 129 139	E3 81 8B	227 130 171	E3 82 AB	239 189 182	EF BD B6	227 131 181	E3 83 B5	227 129 140	E3 81 8C	227 130 172	E3 82 AC
Numeric character reference	か	か	カ	カ	ｶ	ｶ	ヵ	ヵ	が	が	ガ	ガ
Shift JIS	130 169	82 A9	131 74	83 4A	182	B6	131 149	83 95	130 170	82 AA	131 75	83 4B

• Braille

か / カ in Japanese Braille				Other kana based on Braille か
か / カ ka	が / ガ ga	かあ / カー kā	があ / ガー gā	きゃ / キャ kya	ぎゃ / ギャ gya	きゃあ / キャー kyā	ぎゃあ / ギャー gyā

• Japanese semaphore

The Wabun code for か or カ is ・－・・, が or ガ is ・－・・ ・・.