Zakef Katan ( he, זָקֵף קָטָ֔ן literally 'upright small'; various romanizations), often referred to simply as ''katan'', is a
cantillation mark commonly found in the
Torah,
Haftarah, and other books of the
Hebrew Bible. The note is the anchor and final one of the Katon group, which also can include the
Mapach,
Pashta,
Munach
The Munach (Hebrew: , also spelled ''Munah'' or ''Munakh''), translating to English as ''"to rest,"'' is a common cantillation sound. In Sephardi and Oriental traditions it is often called Shofar holekh. It is marked with a right angle below the co ...
, or
Yetiv
Yetiv (יְ֚תִיב) is a cantillation mark found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books of the Hebrew Bible. It is found in the Katon group in some occurrences in lieu of the more common Mahpach-Pashta
Pashta (Hebrew: ) is a common cantillatio ...
. It is one of the most common cantillation marks. There is no limit to the number of times the Katan group can appear in a verse, and often, multiple Katan groups appear in succession. The most times in succession the group occurs is four.
The symbol for the Zakef katan is a colon (:). It is placed on the syllable of the word that is accented.
Zakef katan occurs in the Torah 6992 times.
[
Zakef katan is one of two versions of the ''Zakef'' trope, the other being ]Zakef gadol Zakef may refer to:
* Zakef katon, a trope sound from the Katon group
* Zakef gadol, a common independent trope
{{disambiguation ...
.[Chanting the Hebrew Bible By Joshua R. Jacobson, page 117]
The Katan group
In the Katan group, the trope can appear in the following patterns:
*Mapach Pashta Munach Zakef-Katan
*Mapach Pashta Zakef-Katan
*Pashta Munach Zakef-Katan
*Pashta Zakef-Katan
*Munach Zakef-Katan
*Zakef-Katan
*Yetiv Munach Zakef-Katan
*Yetiv Zakef-Katan
Total occurrences
Melody
References
{{Torah reading
Cantillation marks