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 ] | The kaaf كاف sounds K, more or less like the K in the English words "key", "kept", "kan't", "kewl" or "kyoot". |
There's a second difference between Arabic K and English K, namely: English K is usually accompanied by a puff of air, as in English "kill", while Arabic ك never is. This is important because the letter ق does have a puff in most dialects, so an English accent may make your ك's be misheard as ق's.
Getting rid of the puff isn't easy. Some English dialects use the puff in words like "kill" but not in words like "skill". If your dialect does that, start saying "skill" and then try to make the "s" shorter and weaker. In other English dialects, the K of "skill" keeps the puff, but the K of "shaken" loses it.
If you manage to make the puff of "kill" disappear completely, you'll be saying the Arabic word kil كل without a strong English accent.
The kaaf كاف changes shape when followed by any other letter.
The figure shows a ك followed by a ه.
To make a kaaf كاف,
Instead of the plume, you may use the
"fly" you see in this figure. It should theoretically be a
kufic kaaf, but as it is usually
drawn very small, mostly any small stain will do the job.
In some uncommon kinds of calligraphic writing,
the kaaf كاف follows the general rule
"when not last letter, leave out the tail",
and becomes a laam لام with a plume (see figure).
The letters there are LKL, which might be read likulli- لكل
("for every...", as in
likulli daa#in dawaa#un #illa lmawt لكل دائن دواؤن إل لموت
"for every illness there's a cure except for death"),
and the style of calligraphy is one in which many
vertical strokes near each other are considered beautiful.
But as far as everyday handwriting and print are concerned,
many vertical strokes together look awful.
So, the abovementioned shape of the
ك
is seldom used before other letters.
Don't write LKL as in the figure at right unless
you know what you're doing.
This is one of the possible shapes a ك
can take before other letters. First draw
the short diagonal stroke 1,
downward. It should follow the diagonal
of one square.
Then link to the following letters with the horizontal
line 2, and then write following letters up to the end of the word
(the example has just a
ر). And then add the plume, always backwards.
The linking stroke 2 above is two squares long, but you may
make it longer or shorter, your call. However long you draw it,
it's never wrong:
Several ancient writing styles
(among them the kuwfiyy كوفي "Kufic")
use
a different shape for the kaaf كاف.
The word on the right reads KNZ (might be kanz كنز, "a treasure").
Using this shape for the ك gives an
archaic feeling (like "þe olde ſhoppe").
Though the Kufic kaaf كاف is not used in everyday handwriting, sometimes you'll want to use it in, say, a banner, because, unlike the normal kaaf كاف, it can be lengthened at will.
Copyright (c) 2001-2009
Jordi Mas Trullenque.
email: jordimastrullenque at gmail dot com
http://purl.oclc.org/net/arabe/k.en.html
Last revised: 2008-09-09
| laam لام |
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