K is the eleventh letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled kay ()."K" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "kay," op. cit. History and usage It comes from the Greek ? or ? (Kappa) developed from the Semitic Kap, symbol for an open hand. This in turn was likely adapted by Semites who had lived in Egypt, from the hieroglyph for "hand" representing D for the Egyptian word for hand, d-r-t. The Semites evidently assigned it the sound value instead, because their word for hand started with that sound. The Semitic value of was maintained in most classical as well as modern languages, although Latin abandoned the use of K almost completely, preferring C. When Greek words were taken into Latin, the Kappa was converted to C; Latin used K for other lang

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