Hebrew Letter Kaf

Kaf can sound like k or a throaty kh.

The dot inside כּ is called a dagesh and marks the k sound. In Hebrew text with pronunciation marks, כ without the dot is read kh. Ordinary writing usually leaves these marks out, so the word tells you which sound to use.

Where did kaf come from?

Kaf developed through ancient West Semitic, Phoenician, and Aramaic writing.

The alphabetic tradition behind kaf is attested in Sinai and Egypt in the early second millennium BCE. Kaf’s name is related to Hebrew כַּף, meaning “palm” or “spoon”; an open-hand origin is commonly proposed, though the exact path from picture to letter is uncertain.

An alphabet inscription at Tel Zayit in Judah, from the tenth century BCE, shows a local script developing from Phoenician tradition. The familiar square Hebrew letters developed later through Aramaic writing, while the older Hebrew script continued in narrower uses. These are stages in a letter’s history, not dates when the modern כ was invented.