Etymology

kaph

K5A1P3H4

Today it means: The eleventh letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others). Full definition →

Hebrew כָּף ← Proto-Semitic *kapp-
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The story

  1. Proto-Semitic · derived from*kapp-“palm, hand”
  2. Hebrew · derived fromכָּף“kaph”
  3. English todaykaph

From Hebrew כָּף (kaf, “kaph”), from Proto-Semitic *kapp- (“palm, hand”) (Akkadian 𒀉 (kappu(m)), Hebrew כַּף (kaf, “hand/foot”), Arabic كَفّ (kaff), Ugaritic 𐎋𐎔 (kp)) Doublet of kappa.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Semitic*kapp- all →

kappa

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.