Kappa<sup>2</sup> Ceti is a solitary, yellow-hued star located in the equatorial constellation of Cetus. Its name is a Bayer designation that is Latinized from ú<sup>2</sup> Ceti, and abbreviated Kapp<sup>2</sup> Cet. or ú<sup>2</sup> Cet. (Bayer applied the designation g Tauri to the same star as ú Ceti, but this is no longer used.) This star is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.66. Based upon an annual parallax shift of as seen from Earth, it is located at a distance of approximately from the Sun. It is drifting further away with a line of sight velocity component of +7.4 km/s.
This is an evolved G-type giant star with a stellar classification of G8 III. It is a red clump star on the horizontal branch, which indicates it is generating energy through helium fusion at its core. The star has 2.46 times the mass of the Sun and has expanded to 8.2 times the Sun's radius. It is radiating 42 times the solar luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 5,007 K.