καί

See also: και

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ϗ — ligature-cum-abbreviation, akin to &
• κάς (kás) — Arcadocypriot
• καέ, κή (kaé, kḗ) — Boeotian

Etymology

From earlier *kahi ← *kasi (still seen in κασίγνητος (kasígnētos, “brother”)) ← *kati, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥t-, from *ḱóm (“with”). Compare Hittite [script needed] (kat-ti, “along with”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kǎi̯/ → /cɛ/ → /ce/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kǎi̯/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /kɛ/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /cɛ/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ce/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ce/

• Audio (Classical Attic)

  (file)

Conjunction

καί • (kaí)

1. and
2. even, also
3. both ... and ... (when used in the construction καί ... καί ...)

   καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν

   kaì katà gên kaì katà thálattan

   Along both land and sea

Derived terms

• κᾷτᾰ (kâita, conjunction)
• κᾱ̓κ (kāk, preposition)

 

Descendants

• Greek: και (kai, “and”)
• Italiot Greek: ce
• Mariupol Greek: ки (ki)
• Tsakonian: τσαι (tsai)
• Coptic: ⲕⲁⲓ (kai)
• → Esperanto: kaj (“and”)

Further reading

• “καί”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “καί”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “καί”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• καί in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• καί in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “καί”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G2532 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • also idem, page 25.
  • both . . . and idem, page 90.
  • eke idem, page 263.
  • even idem, page 284.
  • too idem, page 880.
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 615