á

Character	á
Unicode name	LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH ACUTE
Latin-1 Supplement	U+00E1

See also: Appendix:Variations of "a"

Translingual

Letter

á lower case (upper case Á)

1. The letter a with an acute accent.

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 acute accent or double acute accent):  Áá  Ắắ  Ấấ  Ǻǻ  Ćć  Ḉḉ  Éé  Ếế  Ǵǵ  Íí  Ḯḯ  Ḱḱ  Ĺĺ  Ḿḿ  Ńń  Óó  Őő  Ớớ  Ṍṍ  Ǿǿ  Ṕṕ  Ŕŕ  Śś  Úú  Űű  Ứứ  Ẃẃ  Ýý  Źź  Ǽǽ

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Czech

Letter

á (lower case, upper case Á)

1. The second letter of the Czech and Slovak alphabet, after a and before b

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Faroese

Dalsá í Gásadali

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɔaː]

Etymology 1

Long Old Norse /a/. often written as ā or normalized á or even aa, compare Swedish, Danish, Norwegian å.

Noun

á n

1. a monophthong or diphthong, 2nd letter in the Faroese alphabet (called [ɔa])

Etymology 2

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

Noun

á f (genitive singular áar, plural áir)

1. brook, stream, river

Synonyms

• løkur (‘brook’)

Declension

f2 (á)	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	á	áin	áir	áirnar
Accusative	á	ánna	áir	áirnar
Dative	á	ánni	áum	áunum
Genitive	áar	áarinnar	áa	áanna

Usage notes

• (poetry): áir renna vakrar har - ‘the rivers flow beautiful there’
• áirnar standa á svølgi - ‘the rivers stand on deep water’ (= it's raining a lot) (compare áarføri)
• um áir og gjáir - ‘over rivers and gorges’ (= to travel a long way)
• fara yvir um á(nna) eftir vatni - ‘go over the river in order to get water’ (= to look for unnecessary struggle)
• tað gekk sum eftir ánni - ‘it went like after the river’ (= it was very easy)
• ganga / fara í áir - go to the river in order to fish trouts (described in Føroysk orðabók 1998 as local usage in the island of Vágar about fishing trouts in a lake)

Etymology 3

From Old Norse á (‘on, onto, in, at’). Svabo: aa.

Preposition

á

1. (with accusative) on, onto, to, near, beside
2. (with accusative, fjords, bays, harbours) to
3. (with dative) on, in, at
4. (with dative, place names) in
5. (with dative, fjords, bays, harbours) at, in
6. (with dative, seafaring and fishery) at

Usage notes

Note: The preposition ‘á’ is used with accusative case if the verb shows movement from one place to another, whereas it is used with dative case if the verb shows location. This is the same usage as with German auf:

Governing accusative

• legg bókina á borðið - place the book on the table
• hann fer umborð á skipið - he goes aboard the ship
• skriva á talvuna - to write on the blackboard
• fara á fjall - to go in the mountains

with fjords, bays, harbours

• skipið kom á Vestmanna - the ship came to Vestmanna
• skipið kom á Havnina - the ship came to Tórshavn

Governing dative

• bókin liggur á borðinum - the book is on the table
• hann er umborð á skipinum - he is aboard the ship
• tað stendur á talvuni - this stands on the blackboard
• vera á fjalli - to be in the mountains (in order to roundup the sheep)

place names (antonym: av)

• á Eiði - in Eiði
• á Glyvrum - in Glyvrar
• á Húsum - in Húsar
• á Kirkju - in Kirkja
• á Skála - in Skáli
• á Velbastað - in Velbastaður
• á bygd - in the village (countryside)

with fjords, bays, harbours

• skipið lá á Havnini - the ship lay in Tórshavn

with seafaring and fishery

• vera á útróðri - to be fishing (with a rowing boat)

Etymology 4

(onomatopoeia).

Interjection

• á!

1. oh!
2. animal sound of the puffin (lundi)

Usage notes

• lundin sigur á á á - the puffin makes “oa oa oa”

Etymology 5

Old Norse

Verb

á

1. old 3rd person present form of eiga (own)

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Galician

Etymology 1

From contraction of preposition a (“to, towards”) + feminine definite article a (“the”)

Contraction

á f (masculine ao, masculine plural aos, feminine plural ás)

1. to the, towards the

Etymology 2

From Latin ala.

Noun

á f (plural ás)

1. wing

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Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /auː/
• Rhymes: -auː

Etymology 1

Compare Danish å, Norwegian å, Swedish å.

Noun

á f (genitive singular ár, plural ár)

1. river

Declension

declension of á

f-s1	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	á	áin	ár	árnar
accusative	á	ána	ár	árnar
dative	á	ánni	ám	ánum
genitive	ár	árinnar	áa	ánna

Synonyms

• (river): fljót

Etymology 2

Inflection of á.

Noun

á f

1. indefinite accusative singular of á
2. indefinite dative singular of á

Etymology 3

Inflection of ær.

Noun

á f

1. indefinite accusative singular of ær
2. indefinite dative singular of ær

Etymology 4

Conjugation of eiga.

Verb

á

1. 1. person singular of the verb eiga. I own.
2. 3. person singular of the verb eiga. He owns.

Etymology 5

Interjection

á!

1. ow! ouch!

   Á! Þetta var vont!

   Ouch! That hurt!

Etymology 6

Preposition

á

1. (with dative, with accusative) on

   Hvar eru lyklarnir? - Þeir eru á borðinu.

   Where are the keys? - They are on the table.

2. (with dative, with accusative) in

   Ég bý á Íslandi.

   I live in Iceland.

Derived terms

terms derived from 'á'

hlaupa á glæ leggja á minnið lítast á peningar vaxa ekki á trjám kyssa á hönd líta á með vanþóknun líta niður á á fjórum fótum súpa á draga á tálar hæla á hvert reipi heill á húfi bera kápuna á báðum öxlum togast á um vel á minnst vera á bandi leita á

bíta á jaxlinn hafa nóg á sinni könnu minnast á standa eins og stafur á bók kasta á glæ á næstu grösum á eftir skella á leggja á stara eins og naut á nývirki líta snöggvast á færa sönnur á kýla á spila á káfa á líta á

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Irish

Alternative forms

• agá, ’gá, ’ghá (obsolete)

Etymology

Contraction of ag (“progressive particle”) + a (“possessive determiner”).

Pronoun

á (triggers lenition in the masculine singular, h-prothesis in the feminine singular, and eclipsis in the plural)

1. him, her, it, them (used before the verbal noun in the progressive to indicate a third person direct object)

   Táim á bhualadh. — I am hitting him.

   Táim á ól.

   I am drinking it (referring to a masculine noun, e.g. bainne (“milk”)).

   Táim á bualadh. — I am hitting her.

   Táim á hól.

   I am drinking it (referring to a feminine noun, e.g. bláthach (“buttermilk”)).

   Táim á mbualadh. — I am hitting them.

   Táim á n-ól. — I am drinking them.

2. used as a quasi-reflexive pronoun in a sentence with passive semantics

   Tá an buachaill á bhualadh.

   The boy is being hit (literally ‘The boy is at his hitting’).

   Tá an chloch á tógáil ag Séamas.

   The stone is being lifted by Séamas (literally ‘The stone is at its lifting by Séamas’).

Related terms

• a
• ag
• do

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Mandarin

Romanization

á (Zhuyin ㄚˊ)

1. Pinyin reading of 啊

Romanization

á (form of a2 with diacritic)

1. Pinyin reading of 嗄

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Old Irish

Determiner

á (3rd person possessive) (triggers lenition in the masculine and neuter singular, an unwritten prothetic /h/ in the feminine singular, and eclipsis in the plural)

1. Alternative form of a.
   • circa 875, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, Ml. 90^b12

     Mad·genatar á thimthirthidi.

     Blessed are his servants.

   • circa 875, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, Ml. 144^d3

     Nach torbatu coitchenn ro·boí indib fri denum n-uilc at·rubalt tar hesi á pectha.

     Every common advantage that had been in them for doing evil has perished for their sin.

Particle

á (triggers lenition)

1. Alternative form of a.
   • circa 875, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, Ml. 53^c11

     in tan as·mbeir, Tait, á maccu

     when he says, "Come, O sons"

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Old Norse

á

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *ahwō (“water, stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂ (“water”). Cognate with Old English ēa, Old Frisian ā, ē, Old Saxon aha, Old High German aha, Gothic 𐌰𐍈𐌰 (aƕa).

Alternative forms

• ǫ́

Noun

á f (genitive ár, plural ár)

1. river

Declension

   Declension of á

	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	á	áin	ár	árnar
Accusative	á	ána	ár	árnar
Dative	á	ánni	ám	ánum
Genitive	ár	árinnar	á	ánna

Descendants

• Danish: å
• Faroese: á
• Icelandic: á

• Norwegian: å
• Swedish: å

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *ana (“on, onto”). Cognate with Old English on, Old Frisian on, Old Saxon ana, an, Old Dutch ana, an, in, Old High German ana, an, Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰 (ana).

Preposition

á

1. (with dative) on

   Þeir eru á hólmi.

   They are on an island.

2. (with dative) in

   Ek bý á Islandi.

   I live in Iceland.

Descendants

• Danish: å, på
• Faroese: á
• Icelandic: á

• Norwegian: å, på
• Swedish: å, på

Etymology 3

Probably related to Old Norse æ (“always”)

Adverb

á (not comparable)

1. always

Etymology 4

An imitation of a cry of pain.

Interjection

á

1. ow! ouch!

Descendants

• Icelandic: á

Etymology 5

Verb

á

1. first person singular of the verb eiga: ‘I own’.
2. third person singular of the verb eiga: ‘he owns’.

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Old Portuguese

Alternative forms

• a

Etymology

From Latin illa (“that (f.)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a/

Article

á f (plural as, masculine o, masculine plural os)

1. the feminine form of o
   • 13th century, attributed to Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, To codex, cantiga 5 (facsimile):

     Eſta ·xviiii· é como ſṫa maria aiudou · á emperadriz de roma · a ſofrer as grãdes coitaſ per que paſſou.

     This 19th is how Holy Mary helped the empress of Rome suffer the great pains she underwent.

Descendants

• Fala: a
• Galician: a
• Portuguese: a

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Portuguese

Alternative forms

• a
• A
• Á

Etymology

From Latin ā.

Pronunciation

• Audio (BR)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈa/
• Homophones: à, a, há, ah

Noun

á m (plural ás)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter A/a.

Derived terms

• á-bê-cê

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Spanish

Preposition

á

1. Obsolete spelling of a.