ק The nineteenth letter of the Heb. alphabet. The name of the letter, קוֹף or קוּף (‘koph’, ‘kuph’), means lit. ‘eye of a needle’; so called in allusion to the ancient Heb. form of this letter. In PBH it has the numerical value of one hundred. ק alternates with ג, ח and כ (see the introductory entries to these letters). cp. e.g. Mand. גטאר (= to bind), with Aram.–Syr. קֽטַר, and Heb. קָשַׁר (= he bound, tied). For the rare interchangeability of ק and צ see the introductory entry to letter צ.