Learn Chinese Characters

Pinyin Syllable

Chinese characters pronounced ka

Learn common Chinese characters pronounced ka, including 卡 kǎ / qiǎ, 咖 kā, 喀 kā. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words, and example sentences.

How to Pronounce This Syllable

ka opens with a clear puff of air on k; let that breath lead into a and settle the tone across the syllable.

Initial k

Start the syllable on the initial k, then run straight into the final a — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.

Final a

Settle the final a into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.

Study Tip

Start with the most common characters (卡 kǎ / qiǎ, 咖 kā, 喀 kā) and lock in their tones. 3 common characters share the sound ka, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.

Learn by Tone

ka turns up here with 2 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.

1st tone

Taking the 1st tone here: 咖, 喀 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

3rd tone

Taking the 3rd tone here: 卡 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

Common Words With This Sound

Seeing ka inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.

Characters

3 common characters in this group.