kya

Kya is a term with several uses, most prominently as a word in Hindustani languages. In Hindi and Urdu, kya functions as the interrogative meaning "what" and is used to form questions. It is written as क्या in Devanagari (Hindi) and as کیا in Urdu script; transliterations commonly render it as kya or kyā. In everyday speech, it appears in phrases such as "Kya aap theek hain?" meaning "Are you alright?" and "Kya tum kar rahe ho?" meaning "What are you doing?" The word is widely used in both formal and informal contexts.

As a given name, Kya is used as a feminine given name in various cultures. A well-known fictional bearer is Kya Clark, the protagonist of Delia Owens's novel Where the Crawdads Sing (2018). The use of Kya as a name may be chosen for its phonetic appeal and is not necessarily tied to the Hindi/Urdu word’s meaning; its prevalence varies by region and language.