an unstressed syllable prefixed to onomatopoeic and other expressive words, usually forming adverbs or interjections: kerflop; kerplunk; ker-splosh.
Also, ca-, ka- .
[ perh. car-, cur-, currie- (as in carfuffle, carwhuffle to disarrange, carnaptious irritable, curriebuction a confused gathering, etc.), based on car, earlier ker left (hand or side) cearr wrong, awkward, left-handed (cf. MIr cerr crooked, maimed); vars. without r prob. reflect forms in r-less dialects ]