καί

See also: και

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ϗ — ligature-cum-abbreviation, akin to &
• κάς (kás) — Arcadocypriot

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 ...)

Derived terms

• κᾷτα (kâita)

Descendants

• → Esperanto: kaj (“and”)
• Greek: και (kai, “and”)
• Tsakonian: τσαι (tsai)

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