# Kappa (κάππα)
**Kappa** (κάππα) is the tenth letter of the [Greek alphabet](https://www.edgepedia.org/greek-alphabet), written Κ as a capital and κ in lowercase, and representing the "k" sound in both ancient and modern Greek.[1](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/kappa) • [2](https://www.greece.com/info/language/greek_alphabet/Kappa/) In classical Greek grammar it is transliterated into Latin as c or k, with the sound of the k in "kin".[3](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0007%3Apart%3D1%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Position and forms | Tenth letter of the Greek alphabet; uppercase Κ, lowercase κ[1](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/kappa) |
| Sound | The consonant /k/ in ancient and modern Greek; pronounced "KAH-pah"[2](https://www.greece.com/info/language/greek_alphabet/Kappa/) • [4](https://greekalphabet.net/letters/kappa) |
| Ancestor | The Phoenician letter kaph (𐤊), eleventh in the Phoenician sequence, adopted into Greek as Kappa[5](https://www.visitbyblos.com/en/phoenician-alphabet/kaph) |
| Name meaning | From a Semitic source said to mean literally "hollow of the hand", so called for its shape[6](https://www.etymonline.com/word/kappa) |
| Latin descendant | The Latin letter K, soon largely displaced by C and surviving in spellings such as Kalendae[7](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/K) |
| Unicode | Κ at U+039A, κ at U+03BA, and the script variant ϰ (GREEK KAPPA SYMBOL) at U+03F0[8](https://www.unicode.org/Public//UCD/latest/charts/nameslist/0370/) |
## Origin and name
Kappa descends from the Phoenician letter kaph, which the Greeks adopted, keeping the consonantal value /k/, when they adapted the [Phoenician alphabet](https://www.edgepedia.org/phoenician-alphabet) to their own language.[5](https://www.visitbyblos.com/en/phoenician-alphabet/kaph) The 1911 [Encyclopædia Britannica](https://www.edgepedia.org/encyclop-dia-britannica) records that "the original name Kaph became in Greek Kappa" and notes that the shape of the letter changed very little over its long history.[7](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/K) The Semitic name is said to mean literally "hollow of the hand", referring to the letter's shape; the English word "kappa" is attested from about 1400.[6](https://www.etymonline.com/word/kappa) [Wiktionary](https://www.edgepedia.org/wiktionary) derives the English word directly from Ancient Greek κάππα (káppa), ultimately from Proto-Semitic *kapp-, "palm, hand".[9](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kappa)
The letter's position shifted between alphabets. In the Phoenician order, kaph comes in eleventh place, but kappa sits one spot higher, tenth, in today's Greek alphabet; this shift owes partly to the later loss of certain archaic Greek letters.[5](https://www.visitbyblos.com/en/phoenician-alphabet/kaph)
## Path into Latin and English
The Latin letter K descends from Greek kappa, reaching Latin through the Etruscan adaptation of a Western Greek alphabet.[10](https://www.divinityatlas.com/alphabet-letters/kappa) In early Latin inscriptions K was soon largely displaced by C as the normal way of writing the /k/ sound, and it survived mainly in a limited number of traditional spellings, such as Kalendae and the proper name Kaeso.[7](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/K) • [5](https://www.visitbyblos.com/en/phoenician-alphabet/kaph) During the [Late Latin](https://www.edgepedia.org/late-latin) period, -c- came to be pronounced as "s"; consequently, Greek loanwords adopted into Latin after that change, frequently ecclesiastical terms, generally used Latin -k- to render Greek kappa. As a result, K served alongside C as an additional letter in [Medieval Latin](https://www.edgepedia.org/medieval-latin), appearing in Greek and foreign vocabulary.[6](https://www.etymonline.com/word/kappa)
## Uses as a symbol
Lowercase κ is a working symbol in mathematics and science. Greece.com lists it as representing the kappa curve, the condition number of a matrix in numerical analysis, and curvature, and notes that related quantities such as the dielectric constant, thermal conductivity, and spring constant are more usually written with a lowercase Latin k.[2](https://www.greece.com/info/language/greek_alphabet/Kappa/) In heat transfer, Fourier's law of conduction is written q = −κ∇T, with κ as the thermal conductivity.[4](https://greekalphabet.net/letters/kappa) In finance, kappa, or vega, gauges how much an option's worth shifts when the implied volatility of the underlying asset's price moves.[9](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kappa)
## Unicode and typography
Unicode encodes the capital at U+039A (GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA) and the lowercase at U+03BA (GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA), with UTF-8 encodings CE9A and CEBA respectively.[11](https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/formex/physical-specifications/character-encoding/greek-letters) A separate code point, U+03F0 (GREEK KAPPA SYMBOL, also called script kappa), provides the curly variant used as a technical symbol, distinct from the ordinary lowercase κ.[8](https://www.unicode.org/Public//UCD/latest/charts/nameslist/0370/) The NIST Guide to the SI lists kappa among the Greek letters available in both roman and italic type for technical documents.[12](https://www.nist.gov/pml/special-publication-811/nist-guide-si-chapter-10-more-printing-and-using-symbols-and-numbers)
## Modern Greek usage
In [Modern Greek](https://www.edgepedia.org/modern-greek) the letter is pronounced as k, as in "look", and the language also uses the alternative form κάπα.[2](https://www.greece.com/info/language/greek_alphabet/Kappa/) • [13](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BA%CE%AC%CF%80%CF%80%CE%B1) Greek-letter organizations also use the name: [Kappa Sigma](https://www.edgepedia.org/kappa-sigma) chapters, for example, are assigned names from the Greek alphabet based upon their date of chartering.[14](https://www.kappasigma.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Official-Kappa-Sigma-Branding-Guide.pdf)
## References
1. [kappa noun, Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/kappa)
2. [Greek Letter Kappa (Κάππα – Κ), Greece.com](https://www.greece.com/info/language/greek_alphabet/Kappa/)
3. [Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges, Part I: The Alphabet, Perseus Digital Library](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0007%3Apart%3D1%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1)
4. [Kappa Symbol (Κ κ): Meaning, Uses & Copy, greekalphabet.net](https://greekalphabet.net/letters/kappa)
5. [Kaph 𐤊 — Eleventh Letter of the Phoenician Alphabet, Visit Byblos](https://www.visitbyblos.com/en/phoenician-alphabet/kaph)
6. [kappa – Etymology, Origin & Meaning, Etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/kappa)
7. [1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/K, Wikisource](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/K)
8. [Greek and Coptic – Unicode 18.0.0 names list](https://www.unicode.org/Public//UCD/latest/charts/nameslist/0370/)
9. [kappa, Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kappa)
10. [Kappa κ – Alphabet Letters, Divinity Atlas](https://www.divinityatlas.com/alphabet-letters/kappa)
11. [Greek letters – EU Vocabularies, Publications Office of the EU](https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/formex/physical-specifications/character-encoding/greek-letters)
12. [NIST Guide to the SI, Chapter 10](https://www.nist.gov/pml/special-publication-811/nist-guide-si-chapter-10-more-printing-and-using-symbols-and-numbers)
13. [κάππα, Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BA%CE%AC%CF%80%CF%80%CE%B1)
14. [Kappa Sigma Branding Guide: Greek Letters](https://www.kappasigma.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Official-Kappa-Sigma-Branding-Guide.pdf)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Languages and linguistics › Writing and notation systems › Mediterranean, Italic, and undeciphered ancient scripts*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license