| Ipa Symbol: | k |
| Ipa Number: | 109 |
| Decimal: | 107 |
| X-Sampa: | k |
| Braille: | k |
The voiceless velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (IPA|k), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k.
The pronounced as /[k]/ sound is a very common sound cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain pronounced as /[k]/, and some distinguish more than one variety. Most Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindi and Bengali, have a two-way contrast between aspirated and plain pronounced as /[k]/. Only a few languages lack a voiceless velar plosive, e.g. Tahitian and Mongolian.
Some languages have the voiceless pre-velar plosive,[1] which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical velar plosive, though not as front as the prototypical palatal plosive.
Conversely, some languages have the voiceless post-velar plosive,[2] which is articulated slightly behind the place of articulation of the prototypical velar plosive, though not as back as the prototypical uvular plosive.
Features of the voiceless velar stop:
| IPA | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /k/ | plain k | |
| pronounced as /kʰ/ | aspirated k | |
| pronounced as /kʲ/ | palatalized k | |
| pronounced as /kʷ/ | labialized k | |
| pronounced as /k̚/ | k with no audible release | |
| pronounced as /k̬/ | voiced k | |
| pronounced as /k͈/ | tense k | |
| pronounced as /kʼ/ | ejective k |
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abkhazian: [[Abkhaz alphabet|а'''қ'''алақь]]/ak̇halak̇h' | pronounced as /[ˈakalakʲ]/ | 'the city' | See Abkhaz phonology | |||
| Adyghe; Adygei: [[Cyrillic script|'''кь'''эт]]/k′ėt | 'chicken' | Dialectal; corresponds to pronounced as /[t͡ʃ]/ in other dialects. | ||||
| Adyghe; Adygei: [[Cyrillic script|пс'''к'''эн]]/pskėn | pronounced as /[pskan]/ | 'to cough' | ||||
| gistaann | pronounced as /[kɪstʰɐːn]/ | 'six' | ||||
| Aleut: '''k'''iikax̂ | pronounced as /[kiːkaχ]/ | 'cranberry bush' | ||||
| Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|كتب]]|rtl=yes/kataba | pronounced as /[ˈkatabɐ]/ | 'he wrote' | See Arabic phonology | |||
| Armenian | Armenian: [[Armenian alphabet|'''ք'''աղա'''ք''']]/ k'aġak'/k'aghak | pronounced as /[kʰɑˈʁɑkʰ]/ | 'town' | Contrasts with unaspirated form. | ||
| Assamese: [[Assamese alphabet|'''ক'''ম]]/kom | pronounced as /[kɔm]/ | 'less' | ||||
| Assyrian | ܟܬܒ̣ܐ [[Syriac alphabet|'''c'''tava]] | pronounced as /[ktava]/] | 'book' | Used in most varieties, with the exception of the Urmia and Nochiya dialects where it corresponds to pronounced as /link/. | ||
| Basque | Basa: [[Basque alphabet|'''k'''atu]] | pronounced as /[kat̪u]/ | 'cat' | |||
| Bengali: [[Bengali alphabet|'''ক'''ম]]/kom | pronounced as /[kɔm]/ | 'less' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology | |||
| Bulgarian: [[Bulgarian alphabet|'''к'''а'''к''']]/kak | pronounced as /[kak]/ | 'how' | See Bulgarian phonology | |||
| Cantonese | [[Chinese character|家]]/[[Yale romanization of Cantonese|'''g'''ā]] | 'home' | See Cantonese phonology | |||
| 橋/桥/kìuh | [kʰi:u˨˩] | 'bridge' | ||||
| Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|'''c'''ors]] | pronounced as /[ˈkɔ(ɾ)s]/ | 'hearts' | See Catalan phonology | |||
| Chuvash | кукка | [ku'kːɑ] | 'mother's brother' | |||
| Czech: [[Czech orthography|'''k'''ost]] | pronounced as /[kost]/ | 'bone' | See Czech phonology | |||
| Standard | Danish: [[Danish alphabet|'''g'''ås]] | pronounced as /[ˈkɔ̽ːs]/ | 'goose' | Usually transcribed in IPA with (IPA|ɡ̊) or (IPA|ɡ). Contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed in IPA with (IPA|kʰ) or (IPA|k). See Danish phonology | ||
| Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|'''k'''oning]] | pronounced as /[ˈkoːnɪŋ]/ | 'king' | See Dutch phonology | |||
| 'kiss' | See English phonology | |||||
| Esperanto: [[Esperanto orthography|ra'''k'''onto]] | pronounced as /[raˈkonto]/ | 'tale' | See Esperanto phonology | |||
| Estonian | pronounced as /[kɤik]/ | 'all' | See Estonian phonology | |||
| Filipino; Pilipino: [[Filipino alphabet|'''k'''uto]] | pronounced as /[ˈkuto]/ | 'lice' | ||||
| Finnish: [[Finnish alphabet|'''k'''a'''kk'''u]] | pronounced as /[kɑkːu]/ | 'cake' | See Finnish phonology | |||
| French: [[French orthography|'''c'''abinet]] | pronounced as /[kabinɛ]/ | 'office' | See French phonology | |||
| Georgian: [[Georgian alphabet|'''ქ'''ვა]]/kva | pronounced as /[kʰva]/ | 'stone' | ||||
| German: [[German orthography|'''K'''äfig]] | pronounced as /[ˈkʰɛːfɪç]/ | 'cage' | See Standard German phonology | |||
| Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Greek alphabet|'''κ'''αλόγερος]] / [[Romanization of Greek|'''k'''alógeros]] | pronounced as /[kaˈlo̞ʝe̞ro̞s̠]/ | 'monk' | See Modern Greek phonology | |||
| Gujarati: [[Gujarati alphabet|'''કાં'''દો]]/kaṃde | pronounced as /[kɑːnd̪oː]/ | 'onion' | See Gujarati phonology | |||
| Hebrew: [[Hebrew alphabet|כסף]] / [[Romanization of Hebrew|'''k'''esef]] | pronounced as /[ˈkesef]/ | 'money' | See Modern Hebrew phonology | |||
| Hiligaynon: '''k'''adlaw | pronounced as /[kad̪law]/ | 'laugh' | ||||
| Hindi: [[Devanāgarī|काम]] / Urdu: [[nasta'liq|کام]]|rtl=yes | pronounced as /[kɑːm]/ | 'work' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology | |||
| Hokkien | [[Chinese characters|歌]]/[[Pe̍h-ōe-jī|'''k'''oa]] | pronounced as /[kua˧˨]/ | 'song' | See Hokkien phonology | ||
| 區/区/khu | [kʰu˧˨] | 'district' | ||||
| Hungarian: [[Hungarian orthography|a'''kk'''or]] | pronounced as /[ɒkkor]/ | 'then' | See Hungarian phonology | |||
| Italian: [[Italian alphabet|'''c'''asa]] | pronounced as /[ˈkäːzä]/ | 'house' | See Italian phonology | |||
| Japanese: [[kanji|鞄]] / Japanese: [[Romanization of Japanese|'''k'''aban]] | pronounced as /[kabaɴ]/ | 'handbag' | See Japanese phonology | |||
| '''k'''alag | pronounced as /[kað̞aɡ]/ | 'spirit' | ||||
| Central Khmer: [[Khmer script|កម្ពុជា]] / | pronounced as /[kampuciːə]/ | 'Cambodia' | See Khmer phonology | |||
| 감자 / Korean: [[Revised Romanization of Korean|'''k'''amja]] | pronounced as /[kamdʑa]/ | 'potato' | See Korean phonology | |||
| kimímela | pronounced as /[kɪˈmɪmela]/ | 'butterfly' | ||||
| Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch: '''g'''eess | pronounced as /[ˈkeːs]/ | 'goat' | Less often voiced pronounced as /link/. It is usually transcribed in IPA as (ɡ), and it contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed (k). See Luxembourgish phonology | |||
| pronounced as /[kɔj]/ | 'who' | See Macedonian phonology | ||||
| Marathi: [[Devanāgarī|'''क'''वच]] | pronounced as /[kəʋət͡s]/ | 'armour' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Marathi phonology | |||
| Malay: [[Malay alphabet|'''k'''a'''k'''i]] | pronounced as /[käki]/ | 'leg' | Unreleased in syllable codas in some words, See Malay phonology | |||
| കഥ/kada | pronounced as /[käd̪ʰä]/ | 'story' | See Malayalam phonology | |||
| Mandarin | [[Chinese characters|高]]/[[Pinyin|'''g'''āo]] | 'high' | See Mandarin phonology | |||
| 烤/kǎo | [kʰɑʊ˨˩˦] | 'roast' (v.) | ||||
| [[Devanagari| '''के'''रा]] | pronounced as /[keɾä]/ | 'banana' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology | |||
| Norwegian: [[Norwegian alphabet|'''k'''a'''k'''e]] | pronounced as /[kɑːkə]/ | 'cake' | See Norwegian phonology | |||
| Oriya: [[Odia script|'''କା'''ମ]]/kāma | pronounced as /[kämɔ]/ | 'work' | Contrasts with aspirated form. | |||
| Pushto; Pashto: [[Perso-Arabic alphabet|كال]]|rtl=yes/kal | pronounced as /[kɑl]/ | 'year' | ||||
| Persian | کارد/kārd | [kɑrd] | 'knife' | |||
| Polish: [[Polish orthography|bu'''k''']] | 'beech tree' | See Polish phonology | ||||
| Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|'''c'''orpo]] | pronounced as /[ˈkoɾpu]/ | 'body' | See Portuguese phonology | |||
| Panjabi; Punjabi: [[Gurmukhi|ਕਰ]]/کر/kar | pronounced as /[kəɾ]/ | 'do' | Contrasts with aspirated form. | |||
| Romanian[3] | Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Romanian alphabet|'''c'''ând]] | pronounced as /[ˈkɨnd]/ | 'when' | See Romanian phonology | ||
| Russian: [[Russian orthography|'''к'''орот'''к'''ий]]/korotkiy | 'short' | See Russian phonology | ||||
| [[Serbian Cyrillic alphabet|'''к'''ост]] / [[Gaj's Latin alphabet|'''k'''ost]] | pronounced as /[kȏːs̪t̪]/ | 'bone' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |||
| Slovak: [[Slovak alphabet|'''k'''osť]] | pronounced as /[kɔ̝sc]/ | 'bone' | See Slovak phonology | |||
| Slovene | Slovenian: [[Slovene orthography|'''k'''ost]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈkôːs̪t̪]/ | 'bone' | Aspirated before close vowels. See Slovene phonology | ||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|'''c'''asa]] | pronounced as /[ˈkäsä]/ | 'house' | See Spanish phonology | |||
| Swedish: [[Swedish alphabet|'''k'''o]] | pronounced as /[ˈkʰuː]/ | 'cow' | See Swedish phonology | |||
| [[Sylheti Nagari script|'''ꠇꠤ'''ꠔꠣ]]/kita | pronounced as /[kɪt̪à]/ | 'what' | ||||
| கை/kai | pronounced as /[kəɪ̯]/ | 'hand' | See Tamil phonology | |||
| కాకి/kāki | pronounced as /[kāki]/ | 'crow' | Contrasts with aspirated form. | |||
| Thai | ไก่ | Thai: [[Thai script|ไ'''ก่''']]/kị̀ | pronounced as /[kaj˨˩]/ | 'chicken' | Contrasts with an aspirated form. | |
| Turkish: [[Turkish alphabet|'''k'''ula'''k''']] | pronounced as /[kʰuɫäk]/ | 'ear' | See Turkish phonology | |||
| кауар/kawar | pronounced as /[kawar]/ | 'slat' | Found mostly in loanwords. See Ubykh phonology | |||
| Ukrainian: [[Ukrainian alphabet|'''к'''олесо]]/koleso | pronounced as /[ˈkɔɫɛsɔ]/ | 'wheel' | See Ukrainian phonology | |||
| Vietnamese: [[Vietnamese alphabet|'''c'''am]] | pronounced as /[kam]/ | 'orange' | See Vietnamese phonology | |||
| Welsh | calon | [kalɔn] | 'heart' | See Welsh phonology | ||
| West Frisian | Western Frisian: '''k'''eal | pronounced as /[kɪəl]/ | 'calf' | See West Frisian phonology | ||
| Yi | Sichuan Yi; Nuosu: [[Yi script|ꇰ]] / Sichuan Yi; Nuosu: '''g'''e | pronounced as /[kɤ˧]/ | 'foolish' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms. | ||
| Zapotec | canza | pronounced as /[kanza]/ | 'walking' | |||
pronounced as /navigation/