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K Eleventh letter of the English alphabet and found in several other western European alphabets, notably those used for Germanic languages. It is derived from the Semitic letter kaph, possibly from an earlier Egyptian hieroglyph for a hand. In Greek it became kappa, and in that form passed into the Roman alphabet. In English it generally represents a voiceless velar plosive consonant with the same sound as the “hard” form of c, as in kitten. However, in front of an n, as in such native English words as knot or know, it is no longer pronounced.

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