咔

kā
interjection #13,211

Meanings

  1. 1 click; snap; crack
  2. 2 phonetic 'ka'

Examples

HSK 6
Shùzhī kā de yī shēng duàn le.
The branch snapped with a crack.
HSK 7-9
Kāchā yī shēng, ménsuǒ dǎkāi le.
With a click, the door lock opened.

Tips

usage
咔 is mainly used in onomatopoeic compounds like 咔嚓 (snap / click), 咔嗒 (click / clatter). On its own it represents a short sharp sound.

Components

radical
口 kǒu
mouth
Left mouth radical - the indexing radical for onomatopoeic interjections. In 咔 it tags the syllable as a sound effect, the sharp clicking noise things make. Same sound-effect family: 啊 ah, 哎 oh, 哇 wow, 嘿 hey - all 口-prefixed characters that exist purely for the sound they encode.
phonetic
卡 kǎ
card; to wedge
Right 卡 supplies the sound kā with a tone shift. 卡 itself is a modern compound of 上+下, "stuck between up and down" - to wedge or jam. The clicking sound of something snapping into place fits the onomatopoeia: 咔嚓 the click of a camera, the snap of a branch.

Stroke Order

咔 kā