å

Character	å
Unicode name	LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE
Latin-1 Supplement	U+00E5

See also Appendix:Variations of "a"

Translingual

Letter

å lower case (upper case Å)

1. The letter a with a ring above, considered an individual letter by most languages where it is used.

See also

• (Latin script):  Aa  Bb  Cc  Dd  Ee  Ff  Gg  Hh  Ii  Jj  Kk  Ll  Mm  Nn  Oo  Pp  Qq  Rr  Ss  Tt  Uu  Vv  Ww  Xx  Yy  Zz
• (Variations of letter A):   Áá  Àà  Ââ  Ǎǎ  Ăă  Ãã  Ảả  Ȧȧ  Ạạ  Ää  Åå  Ḁḁ  Āā  Ąą  ᶏ  Ⱥⱥ  Ȁȁ  Ấấ  Ầầ  Ẫẫ  Ẩẩ  Ậậ  Ắắ  Ằằ  Ẵẵ  Ẳẳ  Ặặ  Ǻǻ  Ǡǡ  Ǟǟ  Ȁȁ  Ȃȃ  Ɑɑ  ᴀ  Ɐɐ  ɒ  Ａａ Ææ  Ǽǽ  Ǣǣ  Ꜳꜳ  Ꜵꜵ  Ꜷꜷ  Ꜹꜹ  Ꜻꜻ
• (Letters using ring sign):  Åå  Ǻǻ  Ḁḁ  Ůů  W̊ẘ  Y̊ẙ

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Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɔː/, [ɔːˀ]

Letter

å (upper case Å)

1. the last (29th) letter of the Danish alphabet

Inflection

    Inflection of å

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative, dative and accusative	å	å'et	å'er	å'erne
genitive	å's	å'ets	å'ers	å'ernes

    Inflection of Å

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative, dative and accusative	Å	Å'et	Å'er	Å'erne
genitive	Å's	Å'ets	Å'ers	Å'ernes

See also

• (Latin script letters) bogstav; Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz, Ææ, Øø, Åå

Etymology 1

From Old Norse á (“ow!”).

Alternative forms

• åh

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɔː/, [ɔː]

Interjection

å

1. oh
2. O
3. well

Etymology 2

From Old Norse á (“river”), from Proto-Germanic *ahwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂ (“water”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɔː/, [ɔːˀ]

Noun

å c (singular definite åen, plural indefinite åer)

1. A small river; a creek; a big stream

Inflection

    Inflection of å

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative, dative and accusative	å	åen	åer	åerne
genitive	ås	åens	åers	åernes

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Finnish

Letter

å (lowercase, uppercase Å)

1. The third to last letter of the Finnish alphabet.

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Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA: /ɔː/
• (phoneme): IPA: /ɔː/, /ɔ/

Letter

• The 29th letter of the Norwegian alphabet.

å

1. [[Category: definitions needed|å]]

Etymology 1

Formed by conjoining an "A" and an "a", with the lower case letter on top of the capital letter. The letter was invented in Germany during the late Middle Ages and was first introduced to Swedish in the 1500s. Thence it spread to Norway and Denmark, but it was first declared an official letter in the Norwegian alphabet in 1917.

Letter

Å, å

1. The last letter of the Norwegian alphabet.

Usage notes

Before the letter's introduction in 1917, the sound it represents today (similar to the "a" in "all") was written with two As, Aa (this spelling can still be seen in some proper names, and in digital media, such as urls or e-mails, due using a keyboard where the letter doesn't exist or for fear of mojibake). The two As were originally a new form of the Old Norse á, whose representation was a long open a-sound (similar to the "a" in "father"). Gradually, it turned into the modern å-sound and the Aa was eventually replaced with Å.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse at, a preposition which originally meant "by" or "to". Related to Old Norse þat ("that") and English that. Also the origin of the Norwegian at and ad

Particle

å

1. to (infinitive marker)

   Å løpe

   to run

Etymology 3

From Old Norse ó, was used in the same sense.

Interjection

å

1. To express different emotions, oh

   Å, er det deg?

   oh, is it you?

   Å gud, for et dårlig vær det er

   oh dear, look how bad the weather is

   Å, skitt, du har problemer!

   oh shit, you're in trouble!

2. Used to make the message more urgent, pleading, or to underline it, oh

   Å, vær så snill, kan vi ikke dra?

   oh, please, can't we go?

3. To express hesitation or dismissal, oh

   Å ja, sier du det?

   oh really, is that so?

   Hva skjedde?. Å, ingenting

   what happened here?. Oh, nothing.

   Å, jeg er ikke så sikker på det

   oh, I'm not so sure about that

Etymology 4

From Old Norse á, related to Latin aqua ("water").

Noun

å f, m (definite singular åa/åen; indefinite plural åer; definite plural åene)

1. A small river; a creek; a big stream (used mostly in dialects, obsolete in writing)

   Mange bekker små gjør en stor å

   every little helps (literally: "Many small creeks makes a big stream")

References

• “å” in The Ordnett Dictionary
• “aa” in The Bokmål Dictionary / The Nynorsk Dictionary – Dokumentasjonsprosjektet.
• J.Fritnzer's dictionary.
• examples of locations named Å

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Formed by conjoining an "A" and an "a", with the lower case letter on top of the capital letter. The letter was invented in Germany during the late Middle Ages and was first introduced to Swedish in the 1500's. From there it spread to Norway and Denmark, but it was first declared an official letter in the Norwegian alphabet in 1917.

Letter

Å, å

1. the last letter of the Norwegian alphabet

Usage notes

Before the letter's introduction in 1917, the sound it represents today (similar to the "a" in "all") was written with two A's, Aa (this spelling can still be seen in some cases). The two A's was originally a new form of the Old Norse á, whose representation was a long open a-sound (similar to the "a" in "father"). Gradually it turned into the modern å-sound and the Aa was eventually replaced with Å.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse at, a preposition which originally meant "by" or "to". Related to Old Norse þat ("that") and English that. Also the origin of the Norwegian at and ad

Particle

å

1. to (infinitive marker)

   Dei er vanskelege å sjå.

   They are hard to see.

Etymology 3

From Old Norse preposition á, "on, on top of".

Preposition

å

1. used in certain fixed expressions regarding position

   Han fall å bak.

   He fell backwards. (literally: "he fell on back.")

   Ho låg å gruve.

   She was laying on her stomach.

2. used in expressions regarding time

   Det er midt å natta.

   It's the middle of the night.

Etymology 4

From Old Norse ó, was used in the same sense.

Interjection

å

1. To express different emotions, oh

   Å, er det deg?

   oh, is it you?

   Å gud, for eit dårleg vêr det er

   Oh dear, what bad weather.

   Å skitt, du er i trøbbel!

   Oh no, you're in trouble!

2. Used to make the message more urgent, pleading, or to underline it, oh

   Å, ver så snill, kan vi ikkje dra?

   oh, please, can't we go?

3. To express hesitation or dismissal, oh

   Å ja, seier du det?

   oh really, is that so?

   Hva skjedde?. Å, ingenting

   what happened here?. Oh, nothing.

   Å, eg er ikkje så sikker på det

   oh, I'm not so sure about that

Etymology 5

From Old Norse á, related to Latin aqua ("water").

Noun

å f (definite singular åa, indefinite plural åer, definite plural åene)

1. A small river; a creek; a big stream (used mostly in dialects, obsolete in writing)

   Mange bekker små gjer ei stor å

   numerous small contributions give big results (literally: "Many small creeks makes a big stream")

References

• “å” in The Ordnett Dictionary
• “aa” in The Bokmål Dictionary / The Nynorsk Dictionary – Dokumentasjonsprosjektet.
• J.Fritnzer's dictionary.

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Swedish

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Letter name

• IPA: /oː/

Phoneme

• IPA: /oː/, /ɔ/

Letter

å lower case (upper case Å)

1. the third to last letter of the Swedish alphabet, called å and written in the Latin script.

Etymology 1

From Old Norse á, from Proto-Germanic *ahwō.

Noun

å c

1. a river, a creek, a big stream

   Gå inte över ån efter vatten

   Don’t cross the stream to get water

Declension

Declension of å

	singular		plural
Common	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	å	ån	åar	åarna
genitive	ås	åns	åars	åarnas

Usage notes

• Watercourses in Sweden and the other Nordic countries are in Swedish usually refered to as bäck, å or älv. An å is usually larger than a bäck (brook, creek) but smaller than an älv (large river). A certain large bäck may however be larger than a certain small å, and a certain large å may be larger than a certain small älv. The word to use about a certain watercourse is often included as part of its name: Göta älv, Stångån. There are regional differences in whether watercourses of a certain size tend to have å or älv in their names. All älvar are found north of Göteborg, but that is also where the largest rivers in Scandinavia are found. For some rivers in southern Sweden the word ström is used, since that is the watercourse word included in their names. Rivers in other parts of the world are usually refered to with the word flod, which is a more neutral word for any watercourse larger than a bäck.

See also

bäck flod ström

vattendrag älv

Etymology 2

From Old Norse á, from Proto-Germanic *ana.

Preposition

å

1. (obsolete except in certain expressions) on

Derived terms

fara å färde åberopa å andra sidan å ena sidan å det grövsta å det snaraste åklagare ålägga

ånyo å någons vägnar åsamka åsido åskådare åskådliggöra åsyn åverkan