78338
When watching anime I heard this word come across (Tsuki ga kirei, ep4,
somewhere at the end) and I was wondering if it is a combination of nani and
ka or just another word. If it is a combination then why would it be used like
that? with both nani and ka, which both imply a question. Alternatively, I
know a word exists, which is nanika (I believe it ment: 'something'). Could it
be just this word, but then the i removed. If that is the case why would it be
removed? Anyway, it would be appreciated if anyone could shed some more light
on this whole thing.
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2020-07-01T14:57:39.863
78337
2020-07-01T16:47:05.320
39534
question
hiragana
Origin of Nanka
なんか is an informal version of 何か (なにか). So you are correct in your assumption
that it is a combination of なに and か.

Interrogative words like なに (what), どこ (where), どれ (which), etc, are known as
'indeterminate pronouns' (see a related answer
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/78025/%E3%81%AB-%E3%81%B8-%E3%81%8C-%E3%81%8B-in-
describing-place/78026#78026)), and when combined with the particle か,
indicate that the object is unidentified. It generally corresponds to 'some ～'
in English. Here are some more examples of か being added to indeterminate
pronouns:

> なにか something  
>  だれか somebody  
>  どこか somewhere  
>  どちらか one of the two  
>  いつか some day  
>  いくつか a few  
>  いくらか some amount
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2020-07-01T16:47:05.320
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2020-07-01T16:47:05.320
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answer