PA

See also: Appendix:Variations of "pa"

Translingual

Etymology 1

From P (“peta-”) +‎ A (“ampere”).

Symbol

PA

1. (metrology) Symbol for petaampere, an SI unit of electrical current equal to 10¹⁵ amperes.

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of English Panama or Spanish Panamá.

Symbol

PA

1. (international standards) ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code for Panama.

   Synonym: PAN (alpha-3)

English

Proper noun

PA

1. (postal) Abbreviation of Pennsylvania: a state of the United States.
   • 1979 August 3, Talking Heads, “Life During Wartime”, in Fear of Music:

     Heard about Houston? Heard about Detroit? / Heard about Pittsburgh, PA?

2. Abbreviation of Papua: a province of Indonesia.
3. Abbreviation of Pará: a state of Brazil.
4. Initialism of Palestinian Authority.
   • 2009, Rafael Medoff, Chaim I. Waxman, The A to Z of Zionism‎^[1], →ISBN, archived from the original on 27 November 2023, page 64:

     The European Union was more restrained in its support, on the grounds that it would be preferable for Israel to negotiate its withdrawal as part of an agreement with the PA. The PA and Arab governments criticized Sharon for planning to act without consulting them.

   • 2023 November 27, Patrick Wintour, “Hamas cannot continue to rule Gaza, says EU foreign affairs chief”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     He believes that the PA is more entrenched inside Gaza than recognised, saying that, despite being ejected from Gaza as a political and security force in 2007, the PA was still delivering many public services including health and schools in Gaza.

5. (linguistics) Initialism of Proto-Algonquian (sometimes abbreviated PAn to distinguish it from Proto-Algic, but usually just abbreviated PA with Proto-Algic being abbreviated PAc).
6. (linguistics) Initialism of Proto-Algic (sometimes abbreviated PAc to distinguish it from Proto-Algonquian).
7. (linguistics) Initialism of Proto-Athabaskan.
8. Initialism of Prince Albert: a city in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Noun

PA (countable and uncountable, plural PAs)

1. Initialism of public address.
   • 2017 November, N. K. Jemisin, Mac Walters, chapter 13, in Mass Effect Andromeda: Initiation‎^[3], 1st edition (Science Fiction), Titan Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 242:

     “Shuttle sensors detect no communications, heat signatures out of the ordinary, or other signals,” SAM-E said over the shuttle’s PA.

2. Initialism of production assistant.
3. Initialism of personal assistant.
   • 2007 September 28, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 2, Episode 6:

     Jen: Douglas has asked me to be his PA.
     Moss: Oh. My. God! Well, that is something and a half. His PA? How... Whoa! His PA... Shut up! His PA!
     Jen: It means "personal assistant".
     Moss: Thank you. Right, OK.

4. Initialism of personal appearance (when a celebrity visits a public event).
5. Initialism of power amplifier.
6. Initialism of Prince Albert (“genital piercing”).
7. Initialism of public accountant.
8. (law) Initialism of public act.
9. (medicine) Initialism of physician assistant.
10. (medicine) Initialism of physician associate.
11. (organic chemistry) Initialism of polyamide.
12. (chemistry) Initialism of pyrrolizidine alkaloid.
13. Initialism of Peano arithmetic.
14. (anatomy) Initialism of pulmonary artery.
15. (Manitoba, Saskatchewan) Initialism of Parental Accompaniment.
16. Initialism of precision agriculture.
17. (American football, fantasy football) Initialism of points against.

    Coordinate term: PF

    • 2022 December 14, “NFL Playoff picture Week 15: Are the New York Giants still in contention for the postseason?”, in Sportskeeda‎^[4], archived from the original on 17 December 2022:

      The Giants and Commanders have the same record after 13 games each. However, Washington has control of third place in the NFC East due to a better PF/PA record in comparison to the Giants.

Derived terms

• PA cage
• PA speaker

Adjective

PA (not comparable)

1. (medicine) Initialism of posteroanterior.

   Alternative form: P-A

   Coordinate term: AP (“anteroposterior”)

Phrase

PA

1. Initialism of per annum.

   an interest rate of 3% PA

Anagrams

• A&P, AP, Ap, ap, ap.

Finnish

Adjective

PA

1. alternative spelling of peeaa

French

Noun

PA m (invariable)

1. CV (“aircraft carrier”); initialism of porte-avions

   Coordinate terms: PHA, PHI, BPC, PH

Anagrams

• AP

Japanese

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pa̠ːkʲĩŋɡɯ̟e̞ɾʲia̠]

Noun

PA(パーキングエリア) • (pākingueria) 

1. abbreviation of パーキングエリア

Etymology 2

From English PA.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ピーエー [pìíéꜜè] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [pʲiːe̞ː]

Noun

PA(ピーエー) • (pī-ē) 

1. PA system; public address system

Derived terms

• PA(ピーエー)システム (pī-ē shisutemu)
• PA(ピーエー)ブース (pī-ē būsu)

Portuguese

Proper noun

PA m

1. abbreviation of Pará: a state of Brazil

Further reading

• “PA”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Noun

PA f (plural PA)

1. (medicine) initialism of presión arterial
2. (biology) initialism of potencial de acción

Swedish

Noun

PA c

1. initialism of personal assistant (“personal assistant”)

   Kontakta min PA så kan de boka in en tid för mötet.

   Contact my personal assistant and they will book a time for the meeting.

See also

• personlig assistent (“unlicensed assistive personnel”)