ا

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See also: أ [U+0623 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA ABOVE], ٵ [U+0675 ARABIC LETTER HIGH HAMZA ALEF], اً, ٱ [U+0671 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WASLA], آ [U+0622 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WITH MADDA ABOVE], إ [U+0625 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA BELOW], and ا-

ا U+0627, ا
ARABIC LETTER ALEF
ئ
[U+0626]
Arabic ب
[U+0628]
U+FE8D, ﺍ
ARABIC LETTER ALEF ISOLATED FORM

[U+FE8C]
Arabic Presentation Forms-B
[U+FE8E]
U+FE8E, ﺎ
ARABIC LETTER ALEF FINAL FORM

[U+FE8D]
Arabic Presentation Forms-B
[U+FE8F]

Arabic[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /ʔa.lif/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /ʔ/

Letter[edit]

ا / ‍ا (ʔalif)

  1. 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[edit]

  • N'Ko: ߊ

Symbol[edit]

ا (ʔalif)

  1. The first letter in traditional abjad order, which is used in place of numerals for list numbering (abjad numerals). It is followed by ب (b).
Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

Pronunciation[edit]

After fatha: ـَاIPA(key): /aː/

Combined with fatha: اَIPA(key): /ʔa/

Combined with kasra: اِIPA(key): /ʔi/

Combined with damma: اُIPA(key): /ʔu/

See also[edit]

Balti[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ɑ/, /ə/, /e/, /o/

Letter[edit]

ا (transliteration needed)

  1. The first letter of the Balti alphabet, written in the Perso-Arabic script

Burushaski[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

ا (aa)

  1. The first letter of the Burushaski alphabet, written in the Perso-Arabic script

Etymology 2[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

اُ (u)

  1. they; third-person plural pronoun

References[edit]

  • Bechtholdt, Astrid (2024), “u”, in Burushaski Hunza Dictionary (Webonary) (in Burushaski), Dallas, Texas, USA: SIL International, published 2017: “(in Latin script)”.

Chinese[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /a/, [ɑ]

Letter[edit]

ا

  1. The first letter of the Xiao'erjing abjad.

Gujarati[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (letter name) IPA(key): /ɑlif/
  • (phoneme) IPA(key): /ɑ/, /ʔ/

Letter[edit]

ا (alif)

  1. The first letter of the Gujarati abjad

Forms[edit]

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also[edit]

  • Next letter: ب

Kashmiri[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /əlif/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /a/, /aː/

Letter[edit]

ا (a,ā)

  1. The first letter of the traditional alphabet chart of Kashmiri.

Forms[edit]

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also[edit]

  • Next letter: ب (b)

Kazakh[edit]

Alternative scripts
Arabic ا
Cyrillic А, а/Ә, ә
Latin A, a/Ä, ä
Yañalif A, a/Ə, ə

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /æˈlip/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /ɑ/ (back)
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /æ/ (front)

Letter[edit]

ا (a, ä)

  1. The first letter of the Kazakh in Arabic Script. It represents the Cyrillic letter А or Ә.

Forms[edit]

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

Usage notes[edit]

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[edit]

Khowar[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

ا (ālif)

  1. The first letter of the Khowar abjad.

Forms[edit]

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also[edit]

  • Next letter: آ

Kyrgyz[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

ا (alif)

  1. The first letter of the Kyrgyz in Arabic Script. It represents the Cyrillic letter А

Forms[edit]

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also[edit]

Malay[edit]

Malay Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ms

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (Name of letter) IPA(key): [alef]
  • (Phoneme) IPA(key): [ä], [ɐ], [ə]

Letter[edit]

ا / ‍ا

  1. The first letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Arabic script.

See also[edit]

North Levantine Arabic[edit]

Suffix[edit]

ـا (-a, -wa, -yaf

  1. Alternative spelling of ـها when it is not pronounced as “-ha”

Pashto[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /aˈlif/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /ɑ/, /ʔ/

Letter[edit]

ا (alíf)

  1. The first letter of the Pashto alphabet.

Forms[edit]

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

Usage notes[edit]

  • 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/.

See also[edit]

  • Next letter: ب

Persian[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Persian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fa

Letter[edit]

ـا or ا (â or )

  1. The first letter of the Perso-Arabic alphabet. Its name is اَلِف (alef).

Usage notes[edit]

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.

See also[edit]

  • Next letter: ب

Etymology 2[edit]

From Arabic ـًا (-an, triptotic indefinite accusative ending).

Suffix[edit]

ـاً (-an)

  1. Used to form adverbs from nouns or adjectives.
Usage notes[edit]
  • This suffix mostly occurs with Arabic loanwords, but it is used somewhat peculiarly in Persian. Firstly, it also written out after words which, in Arabic, end in the feminine suffix ـَة (-a), e.g. نسبتاً (nesbatan, relatively). More importantly, it may at times occur with native Persian words and with Arabic words in which the ending would be ungrammatical, e.g. ناچاراً (nâčâran, inevitably), اقلاً (aqallan, at least).
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Preposition[edit]

ا (a)

  1. (dialectal, Hamadan, Harat) from, since

Etymology 4[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Suffix[edit]

ـا ()

  1. an adjective forming suffix
  2. a noun forming suffix
See also[edit]

Etymology 5[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • یا (-yâ) (following a vowel)

Pronunciation[edit]

Suffix[edit]

ـا ()

  1. (chiefly literary) a vocative suffix
    خداونداxodâvandâO Lord!

Punjabi[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /əlif/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /ə/, /ɑː/, /äː/, /∅/

Letter[edit]

ا (transliteration needed)

  1. The first letter of the Punjabi written in the Shahmukhi script.

Forms[edit]

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also[edit]

Rajasthani[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

ا (ảlif)

  1. The first letter of the Rajasthani abjad.

Forms[edit]

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also[edit]

  • Next letter: ب

Urdu[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

ا (ālif)

  1. The first letter of the Urdu abjad.

Forms[edit]

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also[edit]

  • Next letter: ب (b)

Etymology 2[edit]

Borrowed from Sanskrit अ- (a-).

Alternative forms[edit]

Prefix[edit]

اـ (a-) (Hindi spelling अ-)

  1. A negating prefix. non-, un-, a-, an-, etc.
    Synonyms: غَیر (ġair), ناـ (nā-)
Usage notes[edit]

This form is used before words that begin with consonants.

Derived terms[edit]
Category Urdu terms prefixed with ا not found

Yoruba[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

ا (a)

  1. The first letter of the Yorùbá alphabet in the Ajami Script.

Forms[edit]

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also[edit]

  • Next letter: ب