-a
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also Appendix:Variations of "a"
English [edit]
Etymology 1 [edit]
From the homographic case endings of the nominative, accusative, and vocative forms of numerous Latin neuter second declension nouns.
Pronunciation [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a (plural)
Usage Notes [edit]
- Because the regular pluralization in English involves adding -s or -es, English words derived from a Latin where the Latin would pluralize from -on or -um to -a do not always do so in English. Usage of -a instead of -s differs between words: sometimes the two are interchangeable (e.g. memorandums/memoranda, polyhedrons/polyhedra), sometimes one is far more common than the other (e.g. neurons over neura, automata over automatons), and sometimes one is completely absent from usage (e.g. bacteria over bacteriums, dendrons over dendra)
Derived terms [edit]
Terms which feature the -a suffix
|
From -um: See also: -um |
From -on: |
- This list is very much incomplete; please help its completion by adding terms.
See also [edit]
Translations [edit]
Latinate plural grammatical number suffix
Etymology 2 [edit]
Possibly due to the propensity in some non-rhotic dialects to pronounce words ending in -er as if they ended in an -a.
Pronunciation [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- (Geordie) Same as -er in Standard English.
- me fatha was a corka burna doon the shipyard — “My father was a corker burner at the shipyard.”
- (slang) Used to replace -er in nouns.
- gangsta — “gangster”
- brotha — “brother”
See also [edit]
Etymology 3 [edit]
Representing the nominative singular case ending of Latin first-declension feminine nouns.
Pronunciation [edit]
Suffix [edit]
- (Should we delete(+) this sense?) Marks singular nouns, with a foundation in Greek or Latin, often implying femininity, especially when contrasted with words terminating in -us.
Synonyms [edit]
Derived terms [edit]
Etymology 4 [edit]
From Latin -a.
Pronunciation [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
Etymology 5 [edit]
Shortened version of verb have.
Pronunciation [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
Etymology 6 [edit]
Representing Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish feminine nouns.
Pronunciation [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- (Should we delete(+) this sense?) Marks nouns, with a foundation in Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese, implying femininity.
Etymology 7 [edit]
Added to lines of poetry and verse to maintain metrics.
Pronunciation [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- Added for metrical reasons to poetry and verse
Etymology 8 [edit]
Shortened version of preposition of.
Pronunciation [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
Etymology 9 [edit]
Shortened version of verb to.
Pronunciation [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- (informal) To.
- oughta
References [edit]
- 2003 [1933], Brown, Lesley editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, edition 5th, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7, page 1:
- 2007 [2002], Lindberg, Christine A. editor, The Oxford College Dictionary, edition 2nd, New York, NY: Spark Publishing., ISBN 978-1-4114-0500-4, page 1:
Dutch [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
Synonyms [edit]
Esperanto [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From feminine singular adjectives (and nouns) of the Romance languages, such as French ma, Italian mia, Spanish mía, fría.
Suffix [edit]
-a
- Related to, in the manner of, of. (Ending for all adjectives in Esperanto.)
- belo; bela — “beauty; beautiful”
- dekstro; dekstra — “the right direction (as opposed to left); to the right”
- vero; vera — “truth; true”
- Belonging to, of. (Ending for all possessive pronouns in Esperanto.)
- mia — “of me, my”
- via — “of you, your”
- ilia — “of them, their”
- -kind of. (Ending of all correlatives of kind in Esperanto.)
- kia — “what kind of”
- tia — “that kind of”
- nenia — “no kind of”
Derived terms [edit]
Finnish [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
- (in words with front vowel harmony) -ä
Etymology 1 [edit]
Originally the so-called weak suffixal gradation form of the partitive suffix -ta (/ða/ or /ðæ/).
Suffix [edit]
-a (in words with back vowel harmony)
- (case suffix) Forms the partitive case of nouns, adjectives, numbers and some pronouns.
Usage notes [edit]
- This suffix is used after a short vowel or the plural marker -j-.
Etymology 2 [edit]
Historically, a form of a lative suffix, -ta (/ðak/ or /ðæk/).
Suffix [edit]
-a (in words with back vowel harmony)
- (case suffix) Forms the short form of the first infinitive of verbs.
Usage notes [edit]
- The first infinitive, short form, is the citation form of verbs.
See also [edit]
French [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- Suffix indicating the third-person singular past historic of -er verbs.
Hungarian [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
- IPA: /ɒ/
Suffix [edit]
-a
Usage notes [edit]
- (possessive suffix): Member of the following suffix cluster:
See also [edit]
Icelandic [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- Used to form verbs from nouns.
Derived terms [edit]
Derived terms
See also [edit]
Ido [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- Ending for all adjectives in Ido.
Italian [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- Used, with a stem, to form the third-person singular present tense of -are verbs.
- Used, with a stem, to form the second-person singular imperative of -are verbs.
- Used, with a stem, to form the first-person singular, second-person singular and third-person singular present subjunctive of -ere verbs, and of those -ire verbs that do not insert "isc".
- Used, with a stem, to form the third-person singular imperative of -ere verbs, and of those -ire verbs that do not insert "isc".
Latvian [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- Used to derive feminine nouns from masculine nouns (like English -ess).
Synonyms [edit]
Related terms [edit]
Femine suffixes that include -a:
Derived terms [edit]
Old English [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
Etymology 1 [edit]
From Proto-Germanic *-ō.
Suffix [edit]
-a
- Ending forming adverbs
Etymology 2 [edit]
Cognate to Old High German -o.
Suffix [edit]
-a m
- nominative masculine n-stem ending
- used to form masculine agents from verbs
Declension [edit]
Declension of -a (weak)
Descendants [edit]
- English -er
Old Norse [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- indicates negation; does not
Portuguese [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
Etymology 1 [edit]
From Old Portuguese -a, from Latin -a.
Suffix [edit]
-a f (plural -as)
- forms feminine nouns and adjectives
- Uruguai (“Uruguay”) → uruguaia (“woman from Uruguay”).
Etymology 2 [edit]
From Old Portuguese -a, from Latin -at.
Suffix [edit]
-a
- forms the third-person singular present indicative of verbs ending in -ar
- João fala português.
- John speaks Portuguese.
- João fala português.
Etymology 3 [edit]
From Old Portuguese -a, from Latin -ā.
Suffix [edit]
-a
- forms the second-person singular affirmative imperative of verbs ending in -ar
- João, conta-nos o seu apelido.
- John, tell us your last name.
- João, conta-nos o seu apelido.
Etymology 4 [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- forms the first-person singular present subjunctive of verbs ending in -er and -ir
- É importante que eu coma carne.
- It is important that I eat meat.
- É importante que eu coma carne.
- forms the third-person singular present subjunctive of verbs ending in -er and -ir
- É importante que ele coma carne.
- It is important that he eat meat.
- É importante que ele coma carne.
- forms the third-person singular affirmative imperative of verbs ending in -er and -ir
- Ei você aí, coma carne.
- Hey you there, eat meat.
- Ei você aí, coma carne.
- forms the third-person singular negative imperative of verbs ending in -er and -ir
- Ei você aí, não coma carne.
- Hey you there, don’t eat meat.
- Ei você aí, não coma carne.
Usage notes [edit]
The third-person imperative isn’t used with third person pronouns, it’s used with você, which is a second-person pronoun but always takes third-person conjugation.
Romanian [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
- -ua (used for feminine nouns ending in a stressed vowel or diphthong)
Etymology 1 [edit]
From Latin illa, nominative feminine singular of ille.
Suffix [edit]
-a f
- (definite article) the (feminine singular, nominative and accusative)
Usage notes [edit]
This form of the definite article is used for feminine nouns in the nominative and accusative cases which end in -ă or in an unstressed vowel:
The suffix is also used with feminine adjectives in the nominative and accusative cases to make the articulated definite form, often for emphasis, and it is used before the noun it modifies:
- buna fată, from fata bună (both meaning "the good girl")
- întinsa câmpie, from câmpia întinsă (both meaning "the wide/extensive plain")
Related terms [edit]
Etymology 2 [edit]
From Latin -āre, the ending of the present active infinitive form of first conjugation verbs. Cognate with Spanish -ar, French -er, Italian -are, etc.
Suffix [edit]
-a
- A suffix forming infinitives of many verbs.
Related terms [edit]
See also [edit]
Serbo-Croatian [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a (Cyrillic spelling -а)
- Suffix appended to words (usually verbal stems) to create a feminine noun, usually denoting a relation or to form a proper noun.
Spanish [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- -ess. (Used to form feminine singular nouns.)
- señor; señora — “gentleman; lady”
- camarero; camarera — “waitor; waitress”
- (Used to form the feminine singular adjectives.)
- frío; fría — “cold; cold”
- -s. (Used to form the third-person singular (also used with usted) present indicative mood of regular -ar verbs.)
- hablar; habla — “to talk; talks”
- (Used to form the first and third-person singular (also used with usted) singular subjunctive mood of -er and -ir verbs, also used for the imperative mood of usted.)
- comer; aunque yo coma — “to eat; even if I ate” ; salir; por favor, salga Ud. — “to leave; please leave (formal)”
- (Used to form the second-person singular imperative mood of -ar verbs.)
- hablar; ¡Habla! — “to talk; Talk!”
Derived terms [edit]
Used to form the feminine singular adjectives
“-s”. Used to form the third-person singular present indicative mood of regular -ar verbs
Used to form the first and third-person singular subjunctive mood of -er and -ir verbs
Used to form the second-person singular imperative mood of -ar verbs
Swahili [edit]
Particle [edit]
-a
- The genitive particle; adjectival particle
Usage notes [edit]
- This particle agrees in class/gender with the noun preceding it;
- When used as an adjectival particle, the particle itself is untranslated:
- When used as a genitive particle, the particle is sometimes untranslated:
-
- Bahari ya Hindi -- Indian Ocean
Derived terms [edit]
Preposition [edit]
-a
- See Usage notes above.
Swedish [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- (on an positive adjective) Suffix to mark that the corresponding noun is either in plural or in definite singular form
- Marker of definiteness for noun plurals ending in -n (fourth declension).
- läten; lätena; "sounds; the sounds"
- Create a verb (in the infinitive) from a noun or adjective, e.g. disk (“dishes”) → diska (“do the dishes”); lås (“a lock”) → låsa (“to lock”); ren (“clean”) → rena (“to clean, to purify”)
- Create a noun from a numeral, e.g. tre (“three”) → trea (“the digit three; a bronze medalist; a three-room apartment”)
Usage notes [edit]
- On adjectives
- Traditionally, if the noun is in definite singular form it should not refer to a male human, if it uses the suffix -a. If it refers to such a person, the suffix should instead be -e, but one should note that this rule is not universally adhered to - in particular dialects of northern Sweden does not recognize the -e suffix at all, but use -a in all instances.
Derived terms [edit]
Turkish [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
- (after a vowel) -ya, -ye
- (after a possessive, dative only) -na, -ne
- (in words with front vowel harmony) -e
Suffix [edit]
-a (in words with back vowel harmony)
- Used to form the dative case.
- İstanbul’a — “to Istanbul”
- Ankara’ya — “to Ankara”
- İzmir’e — “to Izmir”
- babasına — “to his father”
- Used to form gerunds.
- yürüye — “by walking”
Volapük [edit]
Suffix [edit]
-a
- A morpheme used to mark the genitive singular of a word (such as a noun, adjective or pronoun). It is also the most common morpheme used in creating innumerable compound words, some of which can be very long (e.g., pledadinaselidöp "toy store, toy shop", tanoganilamedin "antibiotic", taglumaladälamedin "anti-depressant", natrinakarbatazüd telik "bicarbonate of soda").
- Elaf Tyrannosaurus rex älifon in taledadil, kel nu binon dil Nolüda-Meropa.
- Tyrannosaurus rex lived in an area of the earth, which is now a part of North America.
- Buks binons stumem lärnazilana (/ lärnazilanastumem / stumem lärnazilanik).
- Books are a scholar's tools.
- Elaf Tyrannosaurus rex älifon in taledadil, kel nu binon dil Nolüda-Meropa.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Latin
- English suffixes
- English inflectional suffixes
- English plurals
- Geordie English
- English slang
- English alternative forms
- English informal terms
- Dutch suffixes
- Dutch inflectional suffixes
- Dutch noun plural forms
- Esperanto terms derived from French
- Esperanto terms derived from Italian
- Esperanto terms derived from Spanish
- Esperanto endings
- Esperanto BRO1
- Finnish suffixes
- French suffixes
- Hungarian suffixes
- Icelandic suffixes
- Ido suffixes
- Italian suffixes
- Latvian suffixes
- Old English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old English suffixes
- Old English n-stem nouns
- Old Norse suffixes
- Portuguese terms derived from Old Portuguese
- Portuguese terms derived from Latin
- Portuguese suffixes
- Portuguese nominal suffixes
- Portuguese feminine suffixes
- Portuguese verbal suffixes
- Romanian terms derived from Latin
- Romanian suffixes
- Serbo-Croatian suffixes
- Spanish suffixes
- Swahili particles
- Swahili prepositions
- Swedish suffixes
- Turkish suffixes
- Volapük suffixes
