咖
coffee
Strokes8
Readings
On'yomi
- カ
Kun'yomi
—
Meaning
咖 centers on coffee, used almost exclusively in the compound 咖啡 (kāfēi) to represent the drink.
Most common words using 咖
- 咖哩カレーN5
curry (esp. Japanese curry)
Study
Etymology
咖 is a modern character created as a phonetic loan to represent the sound 'ka' in the Chinese word for coffee (咖啡). It combines 口 (mouth, often used in phonetic characters) with 加 for its sound.
Meaning mnemonic
The mouth 口 on the left and 加 on the right suggest a mouth making the 'ka' sound while drinking coffee.
Reading mnemonic
For カ, imagine a cup of coffee: the first syllable 'ka' in 'coffee' cues カ, and the mouth 口 is ready to drink.