喀 (kā): (onom.) sound of coughing or vomiting

喀 (kā) is a Chinese character meaning “(onom.) sound of coughing or vomiting.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 客 (phonetic). It ranks #3149 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 喀 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 吃 (chī, to eat), 喝 (hē, to drink).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (onom.) sound of coughing or vomiting

Etymology & Origin

喀

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口客 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Practice writing 喀 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
喀布尔kā bù ěrKabul, capital of Afghanistan
喀嚓kā chā(onom.) breaking or snapping
喀什proper-nounkā shísee 喀什地區|喀什地区
喀尔巴阡山脉kā ěr bā qiān shān màiCarpathian Mountains, 1500-km mountain range in Central and Eastern Europe
喀麦隆proper-nounkā mài lóngCameroon
喀拉拉邦kā lā lā bāngKerala (state in India)
喀土穆proper-nounkā tǔ mùKhartoum, capital of Sudan
达喀尔proper-noundá kā ěrDakar, capital of Senegal
新喀里多尼亚xīn kā lǐ duō ní yàNew Caledonia
喀什地区kā shí dì qūKashgar, prefecture in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 新疆維吾爾自治區|新疆维吾尔自治区
马斯喀特mǎ sī kā tèMuscat, capital of Oman
马拉喀什proper-nounmǎ lā kā shíMarrakech (city in Morocco)
日喀则市rì kā zé shìXigazê, prefecture-level city in Tibet Autonomous Region 西藏自治區|西藏自治区
喀斯特kā sī tè(geology) (loanword) karst
喀什市kā shí shìKashgar, a county-level city in Kashgar City 喀什市, Xinjiang
44
Total compounds
66
As first character
2
As last character
32
As middle character

喀 appears in 44 compound words: 66 as the first character, 2 as the last, and 32 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

阿喀琉斯Ākāliúsī

Achilles

马拉喀什Mǎlākāshí

Marrakech (the capital city of the Marrakesh-Safi region, Morocco)

喀什噶尔Kāshígá'ěr

Kashgar (a city in the Xinjiang autonomous region, China)

坦噶尼喀Tǎngáníkā

Tanganyika (former country in East Africa, now part of Tanzania)

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

在喀什、伊犁等地,旅客也能找到DIY小羊公仔的店铺,线上制作和售卖也大批出现了。

zài kā shén , yī 犁 děng dì , lǚ kè yě néng zhǎo dào D I Y xiǎo yáng gōng zǐ de diàn pù , xiàn shàng zhì zuò hé shòu mài yě dà pī chū xiàn le .

In Kashgar, Ili, and other places, travelers can also find shops where they can make their own little lamb plush toys, and online production and sales have also surged.

爱范儿Jun 2026

这个名头可能很多人没听说过,实际上着名的达喀尔拉力赛就是 W2RC 的其中一个环节。

zhè gè míng tóu kě néng hěn duō rén méi tīng shuō guò , shí jì shàng zhe míng de dá kā ěr lā lì sài jiù shì W 2 R C de qí zhōng yī gè huán jié .

Many people may not have heard of this name, but in fact, the famous Dakar Rally is one of the events in the W2RC.

中国新闻网·体育Jun 2026

球队里来自尼日利亚、喀麦隆、加蓬等非洲国家的外交官因热爱足球而相聚。

qiú duì lǐ lái zì ní rì lì yà , kā mài lóng , jiā péng děng fēi zhōu guó jiā de wài jiāo guān yīn rè ài zú qiú ér xiāng jù .

Diplomats from African countries such as Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon have come together on the team because of their love of soccer.

中国新闻网·文化May 2026

电视剧《喀什恋歌》研讨会举行

diàn shì jù kā shén liàn gē yán tǎo huì jǔ xíng

Symposium on the TV Series "Kashgar Love Song" Held

中国新闻网·体育May 2026

值得一提的是,武术已成为2026达喀尔青奥会的正式比赛项目。

zhí dé yī tí de shì , wǔ shù yǐ chéng wéi 2 0 2 6 dá kā ěr qīng ào huì de zhèng shì bǐ sài xiàng mù .

It is worth noting that martial arts has become an official sport at the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 口 (mouth) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 喀 (kā) mean in Chinese?
喀 (kā) primarily means "(onom.) sound of coughing or vomiting." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3149 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 喀 and 额?
喀 (kā) and 额 (é) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 口 vs 页 (same 客 component).
How many strokes does 喀 have?
喀 is written with 12 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 喀?
The radical associated with 喀 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 喀?
喀 is composed of: 口 (semantic), 客 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口客 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 喀?
Common words with 喀 include: 喀布尔 (kā bù ěr, "Kabul, capital of Afghanistan"); 喀嚓 (kā chā, "(onom.) breaking or snapping"); 喀什 (kā shí, "see 喀什地區|喀什地区"); 喀尔巴阡山脉 (kā ěr bā qiān shān mài, "Carpathian Mountains, 1500-km mountain range in Central and Eastern Europe"); 喀麦隆 (kā mài lóng, "Cameroon"). There are over 44 compound words containing this character.
Is 喀 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 喀 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 喀 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.