ا
Page categories
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| Isolated form | Final form | Medial form | Initial form |
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| ا | ـا | ـا | ا |
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Acehnese
Pronunciation
Letter
ا (aléh) (no case)
See also
- Arabic script letters: حرف (haraih, harah) (script appendix): ا, ب, ت, ة, ث, ج, چ, ح, خ, د, ذ, ر, ز, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع, غ, ڠ, ف, ڤ, ق, ک, ݢ, ل, م, ن, و, ۏ, ه, ء, ي, ى, ڽ [edit]
Arabic
Etymology 1
From the Nabataean Aramaic letter 𐢁 (l, “aleph”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤀 (l, “ālef”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓃾. See also Classical Syriac ܐ (l, “ālef”), Hebrew א (l, “alef”), Ancient Greek Α (A), Latin A.
Pronunciation
Letter
ا / ا • (ʔalif) (no case)
- Although usually considered to be the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, the small hamza (ء (ʔ)) that sits on top of أ (ʔ) is really the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and the tall column is its bearer. This entry only deals with the lower part, the bearer, which is called أَلِف (ʔalif) and, without the hamza, is used to lengthen a preceding a.
Descendants
- N'Ko: ߊ
Symbol
ا • (ʔalif)
- The first numeral symbol of the Arabic alphabet (traditional abjad order, used for list numbering), written in the Arabic script; followed by ب (b).
Pronunciation
After fatha: ـَا — IPA(key): /aː/
(word initially):
Combined with fatha: اَ — IPA(key): /a/
- اَلْيَوْمَ (al-yawma, “today”)
Combined with kasra: اِ — IPA(key): /i/
Combined with damma: اُ — IPA(key): /u/
See also
- Arabic script letters: حُرُوف (ḥurūf) (alphabet appendix, script appendix): ا, ب, ت, ث, ج, ح, خ, د, ذ, ر, ز, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع, غ, ف, ق, ك, ل, م, ن, ه, و, ي [edit]
- أ (ʔ)
- إ (ʔ)
- آ (ʔā)
- ى
- ٱ
- ـٰ
- Wikipedia article on the Arabic alphabet
- Search for entries beginning with ا
Balti
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɑ/, /ə/, /e/, /o/
Letter
ا (transliteration needed) (no case)
Burushaski
Etymology 1
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /aː/, [aː]
Letter
ا (aa) (no case)
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /u/, [u]
Pronoun
اُ (u)
References
- Bechtholdt, Astrid (2026), “u”, in Burushaski Hunza Dictionary (Webonary), Dallas, Texas, USA: SIL International, published 2017.
Chinese
Pronunciation
- (phoneme): IPA(key): /a/, [ɑ]
Letter
ا (no case)
- The first letter of the Xiao'erjing abjad, written in the Arabic script.
Egyptian Arabic
Etymology
Pronunciation
Letter
ا • (ā, a, u, i) (no case)
- الف (álif): the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, named Alif, Alef or Aleph
- اموت ― amūt ― I die
- اوكازيون ― ukazyōn ― discount
- انت ― inta ― you (masculine singular)
- مات ― māt ― to die
Alternative forms
While the distinction is made in literary Arabic, the colloquial language uses these word-initial forms with the hamza interchangeably:
Gujarati
Pronunciation
Letter
ا • (alif) (no case)
- The first letter of the Lisan ud-Dawat abjad, written in the Arabic script; followed by ب.
Kashmiri
Pronunciation
Letter
ا • (a,ā) (no case)
Kazakh
Pronunciation
Letter
ا • (a, ä) (no case, Cyrillic equivalent А or а or Ә or ә)
Usage notes
Represents the back-vowel sound /ɑ/, unless a small ء is placed at the beginning of the word. In Kazakh, the Hamza marks that all vowels in the following word are fronted. If ا is the initial letter of a word and is representing a front vowel, it is combined with the hamza and the variant ٵ is used.
See also
- ٵ (front-vowel word-initial variant.
- Arabic script letters: әріптер (ärıpter) (alphabet appendix, script appendix): ا, ب, پ, ت, ج, چ, ح, د, ر, ز, س, ش, ع, ف, ق, ك, گ, ڭ, ل, م, ن, ە, ھ, و, ۇ, ۋ, ۆ, ى, ي [edit]
Khowar
Pronunciation
Letter
ا (ālif) (no case)
Kyrgyz
Pronunciation
Letter
ا • (alif) (no case, Cyrillic equivalent А or а)
See also
- Arabic script letters: тамгалар (tamgalar) (script appendix): ا, ب, پ, ﻥ, ﺕ, ﺝ, ﭺ, ﺡ, ﻑ, ﻕ, ﻉ, ك, گ, ڭ, ﻝ, ﻡ, و, ۅ, ۉ, ﯗ, ﯞ, ﺱ, ﺵ, ﺩ, ﺭ, ﺯ, ﻩ, ﻯ, ﺀ, ﺋ, ﻲ, ﻯ, ء, ۋ, ﻻ [edit]
Malay
Pronunciation
- (Name of letter) IPA(key): [alef]
- (Phoneme) IPA(key): [ä], [ɐ], [ə]
Letter
ا / ا (no case)
See also
- Arabic script letters (alphabet appendix, script appendix): ا, ب, ت, ة, ث, ج, چ, ح, خ, د, ذ, ر, ز, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع, غ, ڠ, ف, ڤ, ق, ک, ݢ, ل, م, ن, و, ۏ, ه, ء, ي, ى, ڽ [edit]
North Levantine Arabic
Suffix
ـا • (-a, -wa, -ya) f
- alternative spelling of ـها when it is not pronounced as “-ha”
Old Ruthenian
Letter
ا (no case)[1]
- (Middle Belarusian Arabica) A letter of the Old Ruthenian alphabet, written in the Arabic script.
See also
- Arabic script letters (script appendix): ا, ب, پ, ت, ث, ج, چ, ح, د, ࢮ, ر, ز, ژ, ش, ࢯ, ص, ض, ط, ع, غ, ف, ق, ك, ل, م, ن, ه, و, ي (خ, ذ, ڛ, س, ظ, ء) [edit]
References
Pahari-Potwari
Alternative forms
- (letter name): الف (alif)
Pronunciation
Letter
ا (alif) (no case)
- The first letter of the Pahari-Potwari alphabet, written in the Shahmukhi script; followed by ب (b).
See also
- Shahmukhi script letters (script appendix): ا, ب, پ, ت, ٹ, ث, ج, چ, ح, خ, د, ڈ, ذ, ر, ڑ, ز, ژ, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع, غ, ف, ق, ک, گ, ل, م, ن, ݨ, ں, و, ہ, ھ, ء, ی, ے [edit]
Pashto
Pronunciation
- (letter name): IPA(key): /aˈlif/
- (phoneme): IPA(key): /ɑ/, /ʔ/
Letter
ا • (alíf) (no case)
Usage notes
- At the start of the word, the letter ا (alif) represents the consonant /ʔ/.
- In the middle or end of a word, ا represents the vowel /ɑ/.
Persian
Etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (phoneme)
- (Classical Persian, Dari) IPA(key): [ɑː], [ʔ]
- (Iran) IPA(key): [ɒː], [ʔ]
Audio (Iran): (file)
- (letter name)
- (Classical Persian) IPA(key): /alif/, [ʔalif]
- (Dari) IPA(key): /alɪf/, [ʔalɪf]
- (Iran) IPA(key): /ælef/, [ʔælef]
Letter
ـا or ا • (â or ∅)
- The first letter of the Persian alphabet, called اَلِف (alef) and written in the Arabic script; followed by ب.
Usage notes
All word-initial vowels are proceeded by a glottal stop which is represented by an ا. However in medial and final positions it is not a glottal stop and instead represents the phoneme /ɑː/~/ɒː/. If a word-initial ا is representing the sound [ʔɑː]~[ʔɒː] it's usually written as آ.
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /æ/
Preposition
ا • (a)
Further reading
- ا on the Persian Wikipedia.Wikipedia fa
Punjabi
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Classical Persian ا (alif), from Arabic ا (ʔalif).
Pronunciation
Letter
ا • (alif) (no case)
See also
- Shahmukhi script letters: اکّھر (script appendix): ا, ب, پ, ت, ٹ, ث, ج, چ, ح, خ, د, ڈ, ذ, ر, ڑ, ز, ژ, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع, غ, ف, ق, ک, گ, ل, ࣇ, م, ن, ݨ, ں, ہ, و, ی, ے [edit]
Sindhi
Pronunciation
Letter
ا • (alif) (no case)
See also
- Arabic script letters: اکر (akharu) (script appendix): ا, ب, ٻ, ڀ, ت, ٿ, ٽ, ٺ, ث, پ, ج, ڄ, جھ, ڃ, چ, ڇ, ح, خ, د, ڌ, ڏ, ڊ, ڍ, ذ, ر, ڙ, ڙھ, ز, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع, غ, ف, ڦ, ق, ڪ, ک, گ, ڳ, گھ, ڱ, ل, م, ن, ڻ, و, ه, ء, ي [edit]
Urdu
Etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (letter name): (Standard Urdu) IPA(key): /ə.lɪf/
- (phoneme): (Standard Urdu) IPA(key): /ə/, /ɑː/, /ʔ/
Letter
ا • (ālif) (no case)
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Sanskrit अ- (a-).
Alternative forms
- انـ (an-) (before vowels)
Prefix
اـ • (a-) (Hindi spelling अ-)
Usage notes
This form is used before words that begin with consonants.
Derived terms
Yoruba
Pronunciation
Letter
ا (transliteration needed) (no case, Latin equivalent a)