The Zakef katan often referred to simply as "Katan," is a cantillation

Cantillation

Cantillation is the ritual chanting of readings from the Hebrew Bible in synagogue services. The chants are written and notated in accordance with the special signs or marks printed in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible to complement the letters and vowel points...

 mark commonly found in the Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

, Haftarah

Haftarah

The haftarah or haftoroh is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice...

, and other books of the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

. The note is the anchor and final one of the Katon group, which also can include the Mapach, Pashta

Pashta

Pashta is a common cantillation mark found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books of the Hebrew Bible. It is part of the Katan group. Its mark symbol is identical to that of the Kadma....

, Munach

Munach

The Munach , translating to English as "to rest," is a common cantillation sound. It is marked with a right angle below the corresponding word....

, or Yetiv

Yetiv

Yetiv 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 clause, generally on one- or two-syllable words....

. 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.

The Zakef katan is one of two versions of the Zakef trope, the other being Zakef gadol

Zakef gadol

Zakef Gadol is a cantillation mark that is commonly found in the Torah and Haftarah. It is represented by a vertical line on the left and two dots one on top of the other on the right....

.

The Hebrew word זָקֵף translates into English as upright. קָטָ֔ן translates as small.

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

Book	Number of appearances
Torah Torah Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...	6992
Genesis	1879
Exodus	1474
Leviticus	987
Numbers Book of Numbers The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....	1359
Deuteronomy	1293
Nevi'im Nevi'im Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...	7203
Ketuvim Ketuvim Ketuvim or Kəṯûḇîm in actual Biblical Hebrew is the third and final section of the Tanak , after Torah and Nevi'im . In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled "Writings" or "Hagiographa"...	4843