Why is it 二ヶ月 and not 二か月?


I was studying kanji, and this word came up. I know the romaji is _nikagetsu_
, meaning two months, so I was a little confused as to why it has a little
"ケ". Do you know if this is correct, and if it is, why it's spelled 二ヶ月
instead of 二か月? Thanks.




it is correct. "kagetsu" is the form for counting months, and may take any of
these forms: カ月 ·ケ月 ·ヶ月 ·ヵ月 ·箇月 ·か月 .... as for how ケ became one of the
written forms, I don't have enough study under my belt to know for sure, but
if I had to guess I would say that it's related to the kanji version 箇月, which
has two of those as radicals at the top... perhaps it became a shorthand for
that kanji at some point. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can clarify.




it is correct. "kagetsu" is the form for counting months, and may take any of
these forms: カ月 ·ケ月 ·ヶ月 ·ヵ月 ·箇月 ·か月 .... as for how ケ became one of the
written forms, I don't have enough study under my belt to know for sure, but
if I had to guess I would say that it's related to the kanji version 箇月, which
has two of those as radicals at the top... perhaps it became a shorthand for
that kanji at some point. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can clarify.

