咖

gā
#2,374 most
frequent character
used in 咖喱[ga1li2]

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

咖 kā has 口 mouth as meaning part and 加 jiā as sound part. It first meant laughter's sound. In modern Mandarin it mostly writes sounds in loanwords; the gā reading also transcribes loanwords, borrowed for sound.

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Same Characters, Different Readings

咖kā
coffee, class, grade

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