K with Accent: ķ ḱ ǩ Move the K Forward, ḳ ḵ Move It Back
A k with accent is almost always a k said somewhere else in the mouth. Latvian ķ, Skolt Sami ǩ and ḱ, the Latin form of Macedonian ќ, move it forward onto the hard palate. The dotted ḳ and the underlined ḵ move it back to the uvula, where IPA writes q. Tap a tile to copy one.
How do you type ķ on a keyboard or phone?
On a Mac, ķ is Fn/Globe+E, then search "latin small letter k with cedilla", then ķ; on Windows it is Win+., then Symbols, then ķ. Each row below gives the documented method for one device or app; the vendor help pages they come from are linked under the table.
| Device or app | Keys |
|---|---|
| Mac | Fn/Globe+E, then search "latin small letter k with cedilla", then ķ How to type accents on a Mac |
| Windows | Win+., then Symbols, then ķ How to type accents on Windows |
| Microsoft Word | 0137, then Alt+X How to type accents in Word |
| Google Docs | Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter k with cedilla" How to type accents in Google Docs |
Sources:Mac (Apple) (opens in a new tab)Windows (Microsoft) (opens in a new tab)Microsoft Word (Microsoft) (opens in a new tab)Google Docs (Google) (opens in a new tab)
- ķ k with cedilla · used in 1 language
- Ķ capital k with cedilla · used in 1 language
- ǩ k with caron
- Ǩ capital k with caron
- ḱ k with acute
- Ḱ capital k with acute
- ḳ k with dot below
- Ḳ capital k with dot below
- ḵ k with line below
- Ḵ capital k with line below
What are all the k letters with accents?
Every k with an accent mark on AccentPad, lowercase then capitals. Tap one to copy it:
Is a k with accent said further forward or further back than a plain k?
Nearly always, yes. In IPA, k is the voiceless velar plosive, a stop made at the soft palate, Wiktionary's entry for k (opens in a new tab) says. A mark on the k tells the reader to make it somewhere else. The places below come from the IPA in Wiktionary's entries for ķ (opens in a new tab), ǩ (opens in a new tab), ḱ (opens in a new tab), ḳ (opens in a new tab) and ḵ (opens in a new tab). The symbol /c/ is the palatal stop in the c (opens in a new tab) entry, and /q/ is the uvular stop in the q (opens in a new tab) entry.
| Letter | Who writes it | Sound | Where the k is made |
|---|---|---|---|
| ķ | Latvian | /c/ | on the hard palate |
| ķ | Latgalian | /kʲ/ | at the k spot, tongue raised toward the palate |
| ǩ | Skolt Sami | /c͡ç/ | on the hard palate, with a hiss on release |
| ḱ | Macedonian in Latin letters, for ќ | /c⁓c͡ç/ | on the hard palate |
| ḱ | Uralic Phonetic Alphabet | [kʲ] or [c] | toward the palate or on it |
| ḳ | North American Phonetic Alphabet | [q] | at the uvula |
| ḳ | romanized Hebrew | the letter ק | also written q |
| ḵ | Kwak'wala, Squamish | /q/ | at the uvula |
| ḵ | Haida, Tlingit | /qʰ/ | at the uvula, with a puff of air |
| ḵ | romanized Arabic | the letter خ | also written kh or x |
| ḱ | Ho, Santali | /ʔ/ | not in the mouth: a glottal stop |
| ḵ | South Island Māori | /k/ | where k is; the line marks a dialect |
So the k with accent comes in two families. The k with cedilla, the k with caron and the k with acute push the tongue forward. The k with dot below and the k with line below pull it back toward the throat. Two rows break the pattern. In Ho and Santali the acute is a glottal stop, and in South Island Māori the line marks a k where North Island speech has an ng.
The Unicode names do not say any of this. The names list (opens in a new tab) notes Latvian for ķ, Skolt Sami for ǩ and Macedonian transliteration for ḱ, and nothing at all for ḳ or ḵ. The Latvian letter's comma, its name and its sound are explained on the Latvian alphabet page.
Should Macedonian ќ be written ḱ, ć or k in Latin letters?
All three are on record, so it depends on who is writing. The UNGEGN report (opens in a new tab) gives the UN system of 1977 as ć, or plain k before e and i. It gives the orthography manual of the language as ḱ, the k with acute. Passports follow a third rule: ICAO Doc 9303 (opens in a new tab) writes Macedonian Ќ as KJ.
Here is what each rule does to three everyday words. The words and their sounds come from Wiktionary's entries for ноќ (opens in a new tab), куќа (opens in a new tab) and ќерка (opens in a new tab). The Latin columns apply each table to the Cyrillic letter by letter.
| Cyrillic | Meaning | Sound | Orthography manual | UN system | Passport line |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ноќ | night | [nɔc] | noḱ | noć | NOKJ |
| куќа | house | [ˈkuca] | kuḱa | kuća | KUKJA |
| ќерка | daughter | [ˈcɛrka] | ḱerka | kerka | KJERKA |
The UN column has a weak spot, and the report names it. Before e and i the UN system writes ќ as a plain k, so ke can stand for Cyrillic ке or for ќе. The report's own example is the place name Ќесендре, romanized Kesendre. The ḱ of the manual keeps the two apart.
The sound has a history of its own. Wiktionary traces ноќ, куќа and ќерка to Proto-Slavic forms with *ť where ќ stands now, not to a k. The Latin spelling of Macedonian ѓ is on the g with accent page.
Why do linguists write ḱ in the old word for hundred?
Because the acute marks the palatal k of Proto-Indo-European, and hundred is the textbook case of what became of it. Wiktionary reconstructs the word as *ḱm̥tóm (opens in a new tab). Some daughter languages kept a k sound in it. Others turned the ḱ into s or sh, and the two groups are named after their words for hundred: Latin centum and Avestan satəm.
Wiktionary's satem (opens in a new tab) entry calls satəm the canonical example of a word that changed the palatovelar ḱ into a sibilant, as opposed to Latin centum. The words and transcriptions below come from the entries for centum (opens in a new tab), ἑκατόν (opens in a new tab), hundred (opens in a new tab), शत (opens in a new tab), šimtas (opens in a new tab), simts (opens in a new tab) and сто (opens in a new tab).
| Language | Hundred | What the old ḱ became | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin | centum, [ˈkɛn.tũː] in classical speech | k | centum |
| Ancient Greek | ἑκατόν, /he.ka.tón/ | k | centum |
| English | hundred, through Proto-Germanic *hundą | h | centum |
| Sanskrit | शत, śatá, /ɕɐ.tɐ́/ | ś, a sh sound | satem |
| Lithuanian | šimtas | š | satem |
| Latvian | simts | s | satem |
| Macedonian | сто, [stɔ] | s | satem |
Look at the last two rows. Latvian writes ķ, and Macedonian writes ќ, a Cyrillic к under the same acute that ḱ carries. Both are satem languages: their hundred starts with s. So their marked k letters are not the old ḱ kept alive. For Macedonian, Wiktionary traces ќ to Proto-Slavic *ť, as the section above shows. The acute in ḱ thus stands for a living Macedonian sound in one text and, in a reconstruction, for a sound that is gone from the Macedonian word for hundred.
Where does the Skolt Sami ǩ come from, and why is it doubled in eeʹǩǩ?
Old k sounds before i or e, judging by Wiktionary's etymologies. The Skolt Sami alphabet in Wiktionary places ǩ right after k. Its letter entry gives the sound /c͡ç/, a palatal stop released with a hiss. The words below come from the entries for ǩiõll (opens in a new tab), ǩiõtt (opens in a new tab), ǩeʹrjj (opens in a new tab), ǩieʹss (opens in a new tab) and eeʹǩǩ (opens in a new tab).
| Skolt Sami | Meaning | Older form in Wiktionary |
|---|---|---|
| ǩiõll, /c͡çiɘɫː/ | language | Proto-Samic *kielë, from Proto-Uralic *käle |
| ǩiõtt | hand | Proto-Samic *kietë, from Proto-Uralic *käte |
| ǩeʹrjj | book | Proto-Samic *kirjē |
| ǩieʹss | summer | Proto-Samic *keasē |
| eeʹǩǩ | year | Proto-Samic *jëkē |
In every row the older form has a plain k, and an i or an e follows it. Skolt Sami writes ǩ in that place. The word for language also builds names: sääʹmǩiõll (opens in a new tab) is the Sámi language, and the entry says the narrower nuõrttsääʹmǩiõll names Skolt Sámi when it must be told apart from the other Sámi languages.
The doubled ǩǩ behaves differently. In Wiktionary's inflection table for eeʹǩǩ, year, the nominative has ǩǩ while the genitive and the accusative singular have jj: eeʹjj. In ǩeʹrjj, book, the ǩ at the start stays put in every case. A search for one form of the word for year will not find the others.
The letter also has a voiced partner. Wiktionary gives Skolt Sami ǧ (opens in a new tab) the sound /ɟ͡ʝ/, the voiced twin of ǩ, the way the alphabet's č (opens in a new tab), /t͡ʃ/, pairs with ǯ (opens in a new tab), /d͡ʒ/. Software has not caught up. We checked Node.js v26.0.0, ICU 78.3 with CLDR 48, on 2026-10-10: it has no Skolt Sami collation, falls back to English rules, and treats ǩ as equal to k when accents are ignored. Northern Sami rules, which the same build does have, keep ǩ apart from k.
Why are ḳ and ḵ so often written as q instead?
Because the deep k they stand for already has a letter: in IPA, q is the voiceless uvular stop. Wiktionary lists q as a synonym of ḳ twice, for the North American Phonetic Alphabet and for romanized Hebrew. It notes that the Liqʼwala dialect of Kwak'wala writes q where Kwak'wala writes ḵ, and that Tlingit can write kh for ḵ. Hebrew ק (opens in a new tab) has two transliterations in its entry, k and q.
Arabic shows the split most clearly. ICAO Doc 9303 prints a table of transcription schemes for Arabic in an appendix. Its rows for ق, the letter qāf, and for ك, the letter kāf, read as follows; the DIN column is printed in capitals.
| Scheme in the ICAO table | Arabic ق, qāf | Arabic ك, kāf |
|---|---|---|
| DIN 31635 | Q | K |
| ISO 233 | q | k |
| UNGEGN | q | k |
| ALA-LC | q | k |
| Encyclopaedia of Islam | ḳ | K |
Of the schemes in that table, only the Encyclopaedia of Islam writes ḳ. Every scheme keeps the two letters apart, one with a q or a dotted k, the other with a plain k.
This choice decides what a search finds. We compared words in Node.js v26.0.0, ICU 78.3 with CLDR 48, on 2026-10-10, at the strength that ignores accents and case. The scheme name ḳāf matched kāf, the name of a different Arabic letter, ك. It did not match qāf. The result was the same under English, Arabic and Hebrew rules. Sorted, ḳāf landed next to kāf, ahead of lām, and qāf went after lām.
So the dot that makes ḳ a q to a reader makes it a k to a computer. If your text mixes schemes, search for the q spelling and the k spelling both. If you are writing, choose one scheme and use it for every name.
Which languages use ķ, ǩ, ḱ, ḳ or ḵ?
Between them, ķ, ǩ, ḱ, ḳ and ḵ are part of the standard alphabet of 1 language in the Unicode CLDR. Each letter's languages:
- ķ
- 1 language: Latvian
No CLDR alphabet lists ǩ, ḱ, ḳ and ḵ.
How to type k with accent, step by step
Step 1: Word: the k's code, then Alt+X
Type 0137 where the letter goes and press Alt+X: you get ķ. 01e9 gives ǩ, 1e31 gives ḱ, 1e33 gives ḳ and 1e35 gives ḵ. Capitals sit one code lower, so 0136 gives Ķ and 1e32 gives Ḳ.
Step 2: Mac: search Unicode's name for the mark
Press Fn/Globe+E and type latin small letter k with, followed by cedilla, caron, acute, dot below or line below. Double-click the k that appears.
Step 3: Windows: Win+. and the Latin letters under Symbols
Press Win+., switch to Symbols and scroll the Latin letters to the k group. Click ķ, ǩ, ḱ, ḳ or ḵ.
Step 4: Google Docs: Insert, Symbols, Special characters, then the k's name
From the Insert menu pick Symbols, then Special characters, and search k with dot below, or swap in another mark name. Click the letter to place it.
Step 5: Before you paste ḳ, see whether the text uses q
Look at how the rest of the text spells the deep k of Arabic ق or Hebrew ק. If it writes q, paste q, not ḳ, so that one name is spelled one way throughout.
Which letters are related to k with accent?
These letter pages share an accent mark or a language with ķ Ķ ǩ Ǩ ḱ Ḱ ḳ Ḳ ḵ Ḵ, the most shared languages first.
Whole alphabets with every letter in order, including ķ: Latvian alphabet.
Every letter with the same mark, on one page, for ḱ, ǩ and ķ: Accent aigu, Caron, Cedilla.
What is the Unicode code for ķ?
ķ is U+0137, LATIN SMALL LETTER K WITH CEDILLA, added in Unicode 1.1 in 1993. In UTF-8 it is stored as the bytes C4 B7, and the table gives every escape a developer needs.
| Code point | U+0137 |
|---|---|
| Name | LATIN SMALL LETTER K WITH CEDILLA |
| Added in | Unicode 1.1 (1993) |
| UTF-8 bytes | C4 B7 |
| HTML | ķ ķ ķ |
| CSS | \0137 |
| JavaScript | \u0137 |
| Python | \u0137 |
| URL | %C4%B7 |
If a page shows Ä· instead of ķ, its UTF-8 bytes are being read as Windows-1252. Serve the page as UTF-8 (<meta charset="utf-8">) to fix it.
ķ Ķ ǩ Ǩ ḱ Ḱ ḳ Ḳ ḵ Ḵ have no Alt code: Windows cannot type them that way.
Need a letter other than ķ?
Frequently asked questions about k with accent
Is ĸ, the kra, a k with accent?
No. Unicode's names list files ĸ, U+0138, as LATIN SMALL LETTER KRA and gives it no decomposition, so there is no k and no mark inside it. It was a letter of the old Greenlandic spelling and is still one in Labrador Inuttut. The list points to Cyrillic к and the small capital ᴋ as look-alikes. HTML calls it ĸ.
Why do Ho and Santali write ḱ for a glottal stop?
To keep the history of the word in its spelling. Wiktionary's Ho entry calls ḱ an etymological spelling: a word with a final k in Proto-North Munda, dak, is written daḱ, and the letter is said /ʔ/, a catch in the throat. Ho can also write that stop with a colon. The Santali entry gives ḱ the same /ʔ/.
Is the line under ḵ an underscore?
No. ḵ splits into k and U+0331, COMBINING MACRON BELOW, a short bar under one letter. The underline is U+0332, COMBINING LOW LINE, which the names list says joins its neighbours on the left and right. In our test with Node.js v26.0.0 on 2026-10-10, k plus U+0331 became ḵ under NFC, and k plus U+0332 stayed two code points.
Can HTML name any k with accent?
One pair only. The HTML list of named characters has ķ for ķ and Ķ for Ķ. Every other k with a mark takes a number: ǩ for ǩ, ḱ for ḱ, ḳ for ḳ and ḵ for ḵ. A hex reference such as ḳ gives the same ḳ.
Does Latgalian say ķ the way Latvian does?
Wiktionary transcribes them apart. Latvian ķ is /c/, a stop made on the hard palate itself. Latgalian ķ is /kʲ/, a k with the tongue raised toward the palate. Both are the character U+0137, so a Latvian and a Latgalian text look alike on screen while the sound behind the letter differs.
How does a passport spell Macedonian ќ?
As KJ. ICAO Doc 9303, the standard for the machine-readable line of a passport, turns Cyrillic Ќ into K, with one exception: in Macedonian it becomes KJ. So the passport line holds neither ḱ nor ć. The same table turns Latvian Ķ into a plain K.