Caph
/kɑːf/noun
The eleventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet, also used for the Arabic letter kāf in some transliteration systems.
Did you know?In Semitic alphabet history, Caph/Kaph originally comes from a hand-shaped sign, so a letter used for writing once began as a picture of the human hand.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Sinaitic
PS
𐤊 (hand-sign)
“A pictographic sign representing a hand or palm”
Proto-Canaanite
PC
kaph
“Hand; palm”
Phoenician
Phoenician
kaph
“The letter representing the /k/ sound, named for the hand”
Hebrew
Hebrew
כָּף (kaf)
“Palm of the hand; sole; the letter kaf”
Greek
Greek
kappa
“The borrowed letter name for the /k/ sound”
Latin
Latin
C
“The letter C, descended through Greek and Etruscan letter tradition”