ENESFRDE中文

Characters, words, pinyin or English

咖 kā coffee

coffee; used in transliterations

How to remember 咖: 口 mouth + 加 add = coffee. The sleepy student opens her mouth wide and asks the barista to add another shot to her coffee.

  • 2,379. most frequent character
  • HSK 2
  • 8 strokes
  • Radical 口

Component breakdown

咖 = 口 mouth + 加 add

  • 口 mouth
  • 加 add
    • 力 power
    • 口 mouth
The Gushi story

The sleepy student opens her mouth wide and asks the barista to add another shot to her coffee.

How it is used

  • A sound-borrowed character, basically only in 咖啡 (kāfēi, coffee) and 咖喱 (gālí, curry).
  • Note the reading splits: kā in 咖啡 but gā in 咖喱 - same character, different transliteration.
  • No standalone meaning; it's the 口 (mouth) radical marking it as a phonetic loan.

Words with 咖

Example sentences

  • 你喝茶还是咖啡？ Nǐ hē chá háishi kāfēi?Would you prefer tea or coffee?
  • 桌子上有一杯咖啡。 Zhuōzi shàng yǒu yī bēi kāfēi.There is a cup of coffee on the table.
  • 我喝果汁或者咖啡。 Wǒ hē guǒzhī huòzhě kāfēi.I drink juice or coffee.