Qop
/koʊp/noun
A variant spelling of qoph, the nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Did you know?Qop is also written qoph, qof, or koph; its precise ancient name is uncertain, although some scholars have proposed connections with a monkey or the back of the head.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*qūp
“Reconstructed name of an early Northwest Semitic letter; the original meaning is uncertain.”
Ancient Hebrew
Hebrew
קוֹף (qōf)
“Name of the nineteenth Hebrew letter, representing a sound close to /q/.”
Ancient Aramaic
Aramaic
קוף (qūp)
“Cognate letter-name used in Aramaic writing traditions.”
Ancient Greek
Greek
qoppa
“A Greek letter derived from the same Semitic letter tradition, later retained mainly as a numeral and archaic symbol.”
Medieval Hebrew scholarship
Hebrew
qoph / qof
“Latin-script transliterations used for ק, distinguishing its deep /q/ sound from ordinary k.”
Modern English
English
qop
“A rare variant spelling of qoph, referring to the Hebrew letter ק.”