Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • abbreviation cathode

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The jackdaw.
  • See ca.
  • A variant of ko, for quoth (often for quoth he).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • proper noun (Hinduism) An unknown god; an epithet of Prajapati and Brahma.
  • noun (Ancient Egyptian Religion) A spiritual aspect of the individual, living within the body during life, and surviving the body after death. It was believed to be one of two spirits inhabiting the body, the other being the ba, which deserts teh body at death.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a spiritual part of the soul in Egyptian mythology, which survived after death
  • noun kiloyear (also ky, kyr)
  • noun a kiloyear ago
  • verb transitive To serve, in the phrase "Ka me, ka thee".

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun unknown god; an epithet of Prajapati and Brahma

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Egyptian kȝ.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin fricantem frica

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ka.

Examples

  • The Dhobi's donkey is a familiar sight as one meets him on the road still toiling as in the time of Issachar between two bundles of clothes each larger than himself, and he has also become proverbial, '_Dhobi ka gadha neh ghar ka neh ghat ka_,'

    The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II R. V. Russell

  • The Nearika (Neali'ka is a dialectal variation), however, was in part the inspiration for the later yarn paintings, what the Huichols call nearikas.

    Huichol art, a matter of survival: Part Two 2009

  • The Nearika (Neali'ka is a dialectal variation), however, was in part the inspiration for the later yarn paintings, what the Huichols call nearikas.

    Huichol art, a matter of survival: Part Two 2009

  • The Nearika (Neali'ka is a dialectal variation), however, was in part the inspiration for the later yarn paintings, what the Huichols call nearikas.

    Huichol art, a matter of survival: Part Two 2009

  • Ajwain ka paratha are a favorite of mine - the seeds add such a lovely flavour when roasted.

    It Rained In My Pindi Chana Anjali 2008

  • But that image of him asking random Chinese people to explain "ka-ching" is hilarious.

    Archive 2007-05-01 2007

  • In HT 16.1-2, the phrase ka-ku-pa • di-na-u, especially if approached from the assumption that Minoan is related to Etruscan, seems to show a noun followed by a participial adjective in -(a)u (nb. the Etruscan participle ending -u as in tur-u 'given') in much the same way as adjectives are placed after commodity terms in Mycenaean.

    Archive 2009-12-01 2009

  • In HT 16.1-2, the phrase ka-ku-pa • di-na-u, especially if approached from the assumption that Minoan is related to Etruscan, seems to show a noun followed by a participial adjective in -(a)u (nb. the Etruscan participle ending -u as in tur-u 'given') in much the same way as adjectives are placed after commodity terms in Mycenaean.

    Clay seals and goddesses 2009

  • Not to be confused with the qubbah is the word ka'bah, for a cube-shaped walled structure which . . . served as a shelter for the sacred stones.'

    Archive 2008-03-01 Jan 2008

  • In death, though, a life force or spirit known as ka was immortal, and a soul known as ba, which was linked to personal attributes, fled the body after death.

    Found: An Ancient Monument to the Soul Jan 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Ka is the force in Stephen King's Dark Tower series that leads all living (and unliving) creatures. It is the will of Gan, the approximate equivalent of destiny, or fate, in the fictional language High Speech. It is the force that causes a destiny to happen, but is not necessarily impossible to surpass. Ka can be considered to be a guide, a destination, but is certainly not a plan - at least, not one that is known to mortals. Ka is not necessarily a force of good or evil; it manipulates both sides, and seems to have no definite morality of its own.

    The official Dark Tower site describes ka as the following: "Ka... signifies life-force, consciousness, duty and destiny. In the vulgate, or low speech, it also means a place to which an individual must go."

    May 9, 2007

  • I love this word. I don't know if it's the word itself or the concept that gets me. It's like karma or kismet but untainted by years of stupid hippies misusing it.

    May 9, 2007

  • ka is an Ancient Egyptian word for the 'double', vitality or life force, represented by a pair of raised arms (possibly to embrace).

    June 2, 2008

  • "1. The jackdaw.

    2. See ca.

    3. A variant of ko, for quoth (often for quoth he)."

    --Century Dictionary

    January 5, 2011