æ

See also: ӕ, Appendix:Variations of "a", Appendix:Variations of "e", and Appendix:Variations of "ae"

Translingual

Pronunciation

• IPA

  (file)

Letter

æ (upper case Æ)

1. Ligature from the letters a and e.

Symbol

æ

1. (IPA) near-open front unrounded vowel

See also

• (Latin script):  Aa  Bb  Cc  Dd  Ee  Ff  Gg  Hh  Ii  Jj  Kk  Ll  Mm  Nn  Oo  Pp  Qq  Rr  Sſs  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
• (Variations of letter E):  Éé  Èè  Êê  Ḙḙ  Ěě  Ĕĕ  Ẽẽ  Ḛḛ  Ẻẻ  Ėė  Ëë  Ēē  Ȩȩ  Ęę  ᶒ  Ɇɇ  Ȅȅ  Ếế  Ềề  Ễễ  Ểể  Ḝḝ  Ḗḗ  Ḕḕ  Ȇȇ  Ẹẹ  Ệệ  ⱸ  ᴇ  Ｅｅ  Ææ  Ǽǽ  Ǣǣ  &  Œœ  ᵫ
• (Letter combinations):  Ꜳꜳ  Ææ  ᴁᴭ  Ǽǽ  Ǣǣ  Ꜵꜵ  Åå  Ꜷꜷ  Ꜹꜹ  Ꜻꜻ  Ꜽꜽ  ct  ȸ  DZDzdz  DŽDždž  ᴂᵆ  ᴔ  &  ff  fi  ffi  fl  ffl  ℔  IJij  LJLjlj  Ỻỻ  Ŋŋ  NJNjnj  Œœ  ɶ  Ꝏꝏ  Ȣȣᴕ  ȹ  ẞß  ſtst  ᵫ  Ůů  Ww  Ꝡꝡ
• SAMPA equivalent: {
• æ-tensing

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English

Symbol

æ (upper case Æ)

1. (chiefly dated or linguistic) A ligature of vowels a and e, called ash.

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.
• Uncommon in modern times except in linguistic use.
• Often absent in American English (reduced to e) whenever it has the sound /ɛ/ (SAMPA /E/) or /iː/ (SAMPA /i:/), 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

• EA, Ea, ea, ea.

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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 Norse ek

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æ/

Pronoun

æ

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

References

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

Etymology 3

From Old Danish thæn (Modern Danish den).

Article

æ

1. (dialectal) the (definite article)

Further reading

• “æ” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

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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

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French

Pronunciation

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

Letter

æ (lower case, upper case Æ)

1. Ligature of the letters a and e.

   Synonym: e dans l’a

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German

Symbol

æ (lower case, upper case Æ)

1. (obsolete) Vowel borrowed from Latin. Succeeded by ä.

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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!, alas!
2. ouch!, ow!

Adverb

æ

1. always, forever

Synonyms

• ætíð
• um aldur og ævi

Derived terms

• sí og æ ("always, for ever and ever")

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Ligurian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛː/

Verb

æ

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

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• e
• ea
• ee

Etymology

From Old English ēa, ǣ.

Noun

æ

1. a waterway; a stream or river.

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Norwegian

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /æː/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /æː/, /æ/

• Audio

  (file)

Letter

æ (upper case Æ)

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

Pronoun

æ

1. I (first-person singular personal pronoun)(dialectal, mostly found in Trøndelag, northern Norway, and parts of western and southern Norway).

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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 æsc (“ash tree”) after the Anglo-Saxon ᚫ rune

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *aiwō, *aiwaz (“law”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂oywos (“eternity, law”). Cognate with Old Saxon êo, Old Frisian ewa, êwe, ê, â, Old High German êwa, êha, êa, ê (German Ehe).

Alternative forms

• ǣw, eaw, eau, eu, æwe, a

Noun

ǣ f

1. law, scripture
   • God is wisdom and ǣ woruldbūendra. ― God is the wisdom and law of world-dwellers.
2. ceremony, custom, marriage

Declension

Declension of æ

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

Derived terms

• ǣbōc
• ǣwbryċe
• ǣwlīċ
• ǣwnian

Descendants

• Middle English: æw, æ, eu

Etymology 3

Noun

ǣ f

1. Alternative form of ēa: river, running water

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Old Norse

Alternative forms

• ei, ey

Etymology

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

Adverb

æ (not comparable)

1. ever, at any time

Descendants

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