K (letter)

K is the eleventh letter of the English alphabet. Its name is pronounced like the girl's name Kay.

Use in English

K is the sound of c in cát or q in quîte. Examples (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes): Ként, kéttle, kítsch, loòk, tâke, toòk, lâke, báck, dóck, bríck, åwkward (*åwquoòd) hácker.

C is more common for this sound at the beginning of a word (and it can also be written ch: chŏrd, álchemy, schoôner).

At the end of a word, k is usual after a double or long vowel, and after l and n and r: pêak, mâke, sínk, boòk, tánk, thánk, àrk, bàrk, sínk, mínk, mílk, tålk, jërk, quïrk, wörk, përk, lürk, Türk, besërk. The l in fôlk is silent (as it is also in hālf and cālf).

Final -ke can have colloquial ring: blôke, nûke (abbreviation of nûclear), bîke (of bîcycle), Jâke (of Jâcob) and, similarly, jûkebox. Also: tâke, brâke car = breâk broken.

After c, k merely reinforces the hard c sound and the preceding short vowel: clóck (*clók *clóc) lúck, súck, néck, báck, thíck, blóck wood (= blóc nations), tíck clock (= tíc spasm, which has no k because it is, like blóc, from French), tíckle, crícket, wícket, tícket, níckel, ríckety, búcket. And so k is added to the ending -ic before suffixes -ing and -ed: politícking, tráfficking, frólicked, pánicked.

Thus the ck combination does not occur after long vowels - you don’t see *-êeck, *-oôck, *-orck, *-àrck etc. And similarly, final k on its own is rare, and foreign-looking, after a single vowel: trék, flák, wók.

C or ck are generally used instead of k when forming clusters, with the exception of wóks etc. and of kl as in boòklet, especially in nkl (nk is pronounced ngk: sínk, thínk, tánk): ánkle (cf. úncle), wínkle, ínkling, tínkle, tínkling.

Silent k occurs initially before n: knôw acquaint, understand (= nô negative), kneŵ acquainted (= neŵ fresh), knôwn (cf. nòne), knîght Sir (= nîght dark), knít, knáck, knóck, knéll, knóll, knâve cad (= nâve church).

Kh is the sound of ch in lóch in words from Arabic, Urdu &c - although many people merely pronounce it k: Khàn (*Kàn).

kk is very rare. It occurs in púkka and Dékker and accidentally, with an extended k sound, in boòkkeeper.

See also

• Letter (alphabet)
• Alphabet
• Writing system
• Orthography
• Written language
• Writing