æ

See also: Æ, æ-, -æ, ӕ, ǽ, ǣ, ᴂ, ᵆ, Appendix:Variations of "a", Appendix:Variations of "e", and Appendix:Variations of "ae"

æ U+00E6, æ LATIN SMALL LETTER AE ← å [U+00E5] Latin-1 Supplement ç → [U+00E7]

Character variations

𐞃 U+10783, 𐞃 MODIFIER LETTER SMALL AE ← 𐞂 [U+10782] Latin Extended-F 𐞄 → [U+10784]

Translingual

Pronunciation

• IPA:

  (file)

Symbol

æ

1. (IPA) a near-open front unrounded vowel.
2. (superscript ⟨𐞃⟩, IPA) [æ]-coloring or a weak, fleeting, epenthetic or echo [æ].

See also

• SAMPA equivalent: {
• æ-tensing
• ᴂ

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iː/, /ɛ/, or speaker's approximation of Latin ae.

Symbol

æ (lower case, upper case Æ, plural æs or æ's)

1. (chiefly dated) The letter ash, a ligature of vowels a and e.

   Synonyms: ae, e

Usage notes

• Mostly used for words of either Ancient Greek or Latin origin, though also used when referencing Old English texts or using recently derived Old English loanwords.
• Often absent in American English (reduced to e) whenever it has the sound /ɛ/ or /iː/, but sometimes retained (in this form, or as ae) when it has a different sound, as in formulæ/formulae.

See also

• ash
• œ
• Appendix:English pronunciation

Anagrams

• .ae, EA, Ea, ea, ea.

Comox

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [æ]

Letter

æ (no case)

1. A letter of the Comox alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) a, æ, aw, ay, ɔ, č, č̓, e, ɛ, ə, əw, əy, g, gʸ, h, i, ɩ, j, k, k̓, kʷ, k̓ʷ, kʸ, k̓ʸ, l, l̓, ɬ, ƛ, ƛ̓, m, m̓, n, n̓, o, ɔy, p, p̓, q, q̓, qʷ, q̓ʷ, s, š, t, t̓, θ, tᶿ, t̓ᶿ, u, ʊ, w, w̓, ꭓ, ꭓʷ, x, xʷ, y, y̓, ʔ, ꞉

Danish

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛː/, [ɛːˀ]

Letter

æ (upper case Æ)

1. Antepenultimate letter of the Danish alphabet.

Inflection

Declension of æ

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	æ	æ'et	æ'er	æ'erne
genitive	æ's	æ'ets	æ'ers	æ'ernes

See also

• (Latin-script letters) bogstav; A a (Á á), B b, C c, D d, E e (É é), F f, G g, H h, I i (Í í), J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o (Ó ó), P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u (Ú ú), V v, W w, X x, Y y (Ý ý), Z z, Æ æ (Ǽ ǽ), Ø ø (Ǿ ǿ), Å å

References

• “æ” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 2

From Old Danish thæn (Modern Danish den).

Article

æ

1. (dialectal) the (definite article)

Further reading

• “æ” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛa/
• Homophones: a, A
• Rhymes: -ɛaː

Letter

æ (upper case Æ)

1. The twenty-eighth letter of the Faroese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) bókstavur; A a, Á á, B b, D d, Рð, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, Í í, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, Ó ó, P p, R r, S s, T t, U u, Ú ú, V v, Y y, Ý ý, Æ æ, Ø ø

French

Pronunciation

• (letter name) IPA^(key): /ø dɑ̃ l‿a/

• Audio:

  (file)

Letter

æ (lower case, upper case Æ)

1. Ligature of the letters a and e

   Synonym: e dans l’a

German

Symbol

æ (lower case, upper case Æ)

1. Obsolete form of ä (used, alongside other graphemes, until ca. 1700, since then very rarely).

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ai̯/

Letter

æ (upper case Æ)

1. The thirty-first letter of the Icelandic alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) bókstafur; A a, Á á, B b, D d, Рð, E e, É é, F f, G g, H h, I i, Í í, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, Ó ó, P p, R r, S s, T t, U u, Ú ú, V v, X x, Y y, Ý ý, Þ þ, Æ æ, Ö ö

Interjection

æ

1. ah!, oh!

   Æ, já nú man ég! ― Ah, now I remember!

2. indicating annoyance

   Æ, hvað heitir lagið aftur? ― Remind me again, what that song's called?

   Æææ, ég er kominn með bólu. ― Darn it, I have a zit.

3. indicating compassion; alas

   Æ, það er leitt að heyra. ― That's sad to hear.

   Æ, því miður. ― Unfortunately not.

4. indicating affection; aww!

   Æææ, en sætt! ― Aww, how cute!

5. indicating pain; ouch!, ow!

   Synonyms: ái, áts, á

   Æ! Hann beit mig! ― Ouch! He bit me!

Usage notes

Can be arbitrarily lengthened and written as ææ, æææ and so on.

Adverb

æ

1. always, forever

Synonyms

• ætíð
• um aldur og ævi

Derived terms

• sí og æ (“always, for ever and ever”)

Jutish

Etymology

From Old Norse ek.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æ/

Pronoun

æ

1. (Fjolde) I (first-person singular pronoun)

References

• “æ” in Anders Bjerrum and Marie Bjerrum (1974), Ordbog over Fjoldemålet, Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag.

Kawésqar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æ/

Letter

æ (upper case Æ)

1. A letter of the Kawésqar alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Ligurian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛː/

Verb

æ

1. second-person singular present indicative of avéi: you have (singular)

Middle English

Noun

æ

1. (Early Middle English, Ormulum) Alternative form of ee

Norwegian

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /æː/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /æ/, /æː/, [æ~ɛ], [æː~eː]

• Audio:

  (file)

Letter

æ (upper case Æ)

1. Antepenultimate letter of the Norwegian alphabet, coming after Z and before Ø.

Usage notes

• Norwegian ⟨æ⟩ is usually found before ⟨r⟩, where it represents /æ(ː)/ and is generally distinguished from /e(ː)/, itself represented by ⟨e⟩. Exceptions are a number of function words (like er, her) which have /æː/, but are nevertheless spelt with ⟨e⟩ for simplicity.
• Before other consonants, ⟨æ⟩ occurs but rarely, mostly when there is a related word with ⟨å⟩, e.g. væpne, væske (from våpen, våt). In such words there is usually no phonetic distinction from ⟨e⟩, thus [ˈveːpnə], [ˈvɛskə] (the latter merging with veske). In certain dialects, /æ(ː)/ may be retained even in these cases or some of them.
• The letter æ in the Norwegian runic inscriptions from 17-19 centuries is usually written as ⤉.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Ultimately from Old Norse ek. In some cases, from earlier æg (which is also still used).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æː/

Pronoun

æ (accusative mæ, genitive masculine min, genitive feminine mi, genitive neuter mett or mitt)

1. (dialectal, Trøndelag, Northern Norway, parts of Southern Norway) Alternative form of eg (“first-person singular personal pronoun”)

   - Æ e i A.
   - Å, æ e i A æ å!

   - I am in the A (school classroom).
   - Oh, I am in A too!

References

• A. Dalen, J. R. Hagland, S. Hårstad, H. Rydving, O. Stemshaug (2008) Trøndersk språkhistorie: Språkforhold i ein region

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æː/

Etymology 1

Letter

ǣ (upper case Æ)

1. letter of the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) alphabet, listed in 24th and final position by Byrhtferð (1011); Called æsċ (“ash tree”) after the Anglo-Saxon ᚫ rune

Etymology 2

From Proto-West Germanic *aiwi. Cognate with Old Frisian and Old High German ēwa ~ ē, Old Saxon ēo.

Alternative forms

• ǣw, eaw, eau, eu, a
• ǣwe

Noun

ǣ f

1. law
2. marriage
3. rite

Declension

Declension of ǣ

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	ǣ	ǣ
accusative	ǣ	ǣ
genitive	ǣ	ǣwa
dative	ǣ	ǣwum

Derived terms

• ǣbōc
• ǣwbryċe
• ǣwlīċ
• ǣwnian
• tungolǣ

 

Descendants

• Middle English: æw, eaw, e, æ, eu

Etymology 3

Noun

ǣ f

1. Alternative form of ēa: river, running water

Old Norse

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *aiwi (“forever”), *aiwaz. Cognate with Old English ā, āwa, ǣ, Old Saxon eo, io, ia, Old High German eo, io.

Alternative forms

• ei, ey

Adverb

æ (not comparable)

1. ever, eternally, at any time
   • Vǫluspá, verse 19, lines 7-8, in 1867, S. Bugge, Norrœn fornkvæði: Sæmundar Edda hins fróða. Christiania, page 4:

     […] stendr æ yfir grœnn / Urðar brunni

     […] stands ever green, over / the well of Urd

Descendants

• Icelandic: æ
• Old Swedish: ē, ǣ
  • Swedish: ä, e, e-
• → Middle English: aye, ai, agg
  • English: aye

Etymology 2

Verb

æ

1. inflection of æja:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Old Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [æː]

Letter

æ

1. a letter of the Old Swedish alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Verb

æ

1. second-person present imperative of vara

Swedish

Letter

æ (upper case Æ)

1. Historical Swedish letter, now obsolete and rarely used, replaced by a, e and ä.

See also

• Category:Swedish terms spelled with Æ
• Aͤ, aͤ
• Œ, œ