咔 meaning and stroke order
Used in transliterations
How to write 咔, stroke by stroke
8 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 咔
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (onom.) click; snap; crack
- (used as phonetic "ka")
How 咔 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Mouth.
口 gives the meaning and 卡 hints at the sound.
Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.
How to remember 咔
咔 combines 口 (mouth), which marks a sound, with 卡 (kǎ), which gives the pronunciation. Picture a mouth making a sharp "ka" sound, like a click or a snap.
咔 (kā) mostly appears in sound words, especially 咔嚓 (kāchā) for something snapping, breaking, or a camera shutter clicking. It also spells out foreign sounds as kǎ in transliterations. Example: 树枝咔嚓一声断了。(Shùzhī kāchā yì shēng duàn le.) The branch snapped with a crack.
Common mistake: Learners often write 卡 (kǎ) alone when they mean the sound word, but the sound word needs the 口 on the left: 咔嚓, not 卡嚓. Also note the tone. In 咔嚓 it is first tone kā, not third tone like 卡.
Common words with 咔
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 咔嚓 | kāchā | (onom.) breaking or snapping; (coll.) cut it out |
咔 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 咔
How many strokes are in 咔?
咔 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 咔 mean?
咔 (kā) means used in transliterations. A common word with it is 咔嚓 (kāchā), meaning "(onom.) breaking or snapping; (coll.) cut it out".
How do you pronounce 咔?
咔 is pronounced kā, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 咔?
The radical of 咔 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 咔 under this radical.
What does 咔嚓 mean in slang?
Besides the snapping sound, 咔嚓 can colloquially mean "cut it out" or "cut", like cutting something off. It is also commonly used for the click of taking a photo.
Is 咔 used on its own?
Rarely. It usually appears doubled or in compounds such as 咔嚓 or 咔咔, which imitate repeated clicking or cracking sounds.