阿

Translingual

Stroke order

Etymology

Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 阜 + phonetic 可 : Originally meaning a big mound.

Han character

阿 (radical 170 阜+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 弓中一弓口 (NLMNR), four-corner 7122₀, composition ⿰阝可)

1. determiner for given names
2. used in transliteration for /a/

Descendants

• ア

References

• KangXi: page 1348, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 41599
• Dae Jaweon: page 1850, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 6, page 4119, character 11
• Unihan data for U+963F

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		阿

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): ā, ē (a¹, e¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄚ, ㄜ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): aa², aa³, aak³, o¹
• Min Nan (POJ): o

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: ā
    • Zhuyin: ㄚ
    • Wade-Giles: a¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: a
    • IPA ^(key): /ˀa̠⁵⁵/

    • (file)

      
      
      
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: ē
    • Zhuyin: ㄜ
    • Wade-Giles: o¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: e
    • IPA ^(key): /ˀɤ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: aa², aa³, aak³, o¹
    • Yale: á, a, aak, ō
    • Cantonese Pinyin: aa², aa³, aak⁸, o¹
    • IPA ^(key): /ɑː³⁵/, /ɑː³³/, /ɑːk̚³/, /ɔː⁵⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: o
    • Tâi-lô: o
    • IPA (Taipei): /ə⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ə³⁴/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (阿, reconstructed)
Character (阿), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 影 (34) Final: 歌 Division: I			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 烏何切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/ʔɑ/	/ʔɑ/	/ʔɑ/	/ʔɑ/	/ʔa/	/ɑ/	/ʔɑ/

Old Chinese pronunciation (阿, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
阿								ē								‹ ʔa ›								/*qˤa[j]/								slope, river bank
阿								ē								‹ ʔa ›								/*ʔˤa (< *qˤaj)/								阿會亘 ēhuìxuān: Skt. ābhāsvara “shining” (E. Hàn)
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system: Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character					No.					Phonetic component					Rime group					Rime subdivision					Corresponding MC rime					Old Chinese					Notes
阿					7468					可					歌					1					阿					/*qaːl/

Particle

阿

1. Used in front of persons' given names or kinship terms to express familiarity (traditionally in rural or southern Chinese dialects)

   A-Bian (阿扁): Chen Shui-bian

   A-Gan (Forrest Gump)

   阿爸 (dad)

Proper noun

阿

1. abbreviation of 阿富汗 (Afghanistan)
2. abbreviation of 阿尔巴尼亚 (Albania)

Verb

阿

1. to flatter

   阿谀奉承

Compounds

• 阿布扎比
• 阿尔
• 阿尔巴尼亚
• 阿尔卑斯山脉
• 阿尔汉格尔斯克
• 阿尔及利亚
• 阿富汗
• 阿伏伽德罗
• 阿哥
• 阿根廷
• 阿基米得
• 阿拉
• 阿拉伯
• 阿拉伯联合酋长国
• 阿拉伯语
• 阿拉法特
• 阿勒颇
• 阿曼
• 阿皮亚
• 阿萨姆
• 阿塞拜疆
• 阿森松岛
• 阿什哈巴德
• 阿斯塔纳
• 阿维尼翁
• 阿姨
• 阿育王
• 阿胶

References

• "阿" (in Mandarin/English), MDBG English to Chinese dictionary (Based on CC-CEDICT). URL accessed on 2014-02-26.
• Gledhill, Donald F. and Fei, Albert C. Y. Chinese to English Dictionary: English Copy of Xīnhuá Zìdiǎn. 1976.

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Japanese

Kanji

阿

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

Readings

• Goon: あ (a)
• Kan’on: あ (a)
• Kun: くま (kuma), おもねる (omoneru), お (o)

Compounds

• 阿吽
• 阿修羅
• 阿片
• 阿呆
• 阿弥陀

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Korean

Hanja

阿 (a, ok) (hangeul 아, 옥, revised a, ok, McCune-Reischauer a, ok, Yale a, ok)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

Compounds

• 阿片 (아편, apyeon)

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Vietnamese

Han character

阿 (a, à)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.