ä

See also: Ä, ӓ, -ä, and Appendix:Variations of "a"

ä U+00E4, ä LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS Composition: a [U+0061] + ◌̈ [U+0308] ← ã [U+00E3] Latin-1 Supplement å → [U+00E5]

Translingual

Symbol

ä

1. (IPA) Sometimes used to transcribe an open central unrounded vowel, as ⟨a⟩ is officially an open front vowel.
2. (actuarial notation) Annuity-due.

   ä_n̅| ― n-year annuity-due

   ä_x:n̅| ― n-year annuity-due to a person currently age x

   ä_x ― life annuity-due to a person currently age x

   $_{k|}{\ddot {a}}_{x:{\overline {n|}}}^{(m)}$ ― k-year deferred life annuity-due to a person currently age x, compounded m-thly

English

Symbol

ä

1. (lexicography) A dictionary transcription for the PALM vowel

Arin

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Yeniseian *axʷ (“I”). Compare Kott ai (“I”) and Pumpokol ad (“I”). Also see Assan aj.

Pronoun

ä

1. I (first-person singular subjective)

Synonyms

• aj

Related terms

• aiŋ

Dinka

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /a̤/

Letter

ä (upper case Ä)

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

Elfdalian

Noun

ä f

1. island

Inflection

Declension of ä

feminine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ä	enę	äer	äär
accusative	ä	enę	äer	äär
dative	ä	e'n	äum	äum(e)
genitive	—	—	—	—

Estonian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæː/

Letter

ä (lower case, upper case Ä)

1. The twenty-eighth letter of the Estonian alphabet, called ää and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) täht; A a, B b (C c), D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p (Q q), R r, S s, Š š, Z z, Ž ž, T t, U u, V v (W w), Õ õ, Ä ä, Ö ö, Ü ü (X x, Y y)

Finnish

Etymology

See Ä.

Pronunciation

• Audio: ää, häkä, sää, määräys, ää

  (file)

Letter

ä (lower case, upper case Ä)

1. The twenty-seventh letter of the Finnish alphabet, called ää and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Should not be replaced by ae in case of technical restrictions (like in e.g. German), as that may change the meaning.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) kirjain; A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s (Š š), T t, U u, V v (W w), X x, Y y, Z z (Ž ž), Å å, Ä ä, Ö ö

German

Noun

ä n (strong, genitive ä or äs, plural ä or äs)

1. Alternative form of Ä

Declension

Declension of ä [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	ä	die	ä, äs
genitive	eines	des	ä, äs	der	ä, äs
dative	einem	dem	ä	den	ä, äs
accusative	ein	das	ä	die	ä, äs

Further reading

• “ä” in Duden online
• “ä” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Livonian

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /æ/

Letter

ä (upper case Ä)

1. The third letter of the Livonian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) kēratēd̦; A a, Ā ā, Ä ä, Ǟ ǟ, B b, D d, D̦ d̦, E e, Ē ē, F f, G g, H h, I i, Ī ī, J j, K k, L l, Ļ ļ, M m, N n, Ņ ņ, O o, Ō ō, Ȯ ȯ, Ȱ ȱ, Õ õ, Ȭ ȭ, P p, R r, Ŗ ŗ, S s, Š š, T t, Ț ț, U u, Ū ū, V v, Z z, Ž ž

Romani

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): () /ɨ/, () /ə/

Letter

ä (lower case, upper case Ä)

1. (International Standard) Used to represent a dialectal centralized vowel.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, X x, I i, J j, K k, Kh kh, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Ph ph, R r, S s, T t, Th th, U u, V v, Z z International Standard: (À à, Ä ä, Ǎ ǎ), Ć ć, Ćh ćh, (È è, Ë ë, Ě ě), (Ì ì, Ï ï, Ǐ ǐ), (Ò ò, Ö ö, Ǒ ǒ), Rr rr, Ś ś, (Ù ù, Ü ü, Ǔ ǔ), Ź ź, Ʒ ʒ, Q q, Ç ç, ϴ θ. Pan-Vlax: Č č, Čh čh, Dž dž, (Dź dź), Ř ř, Š š, (Ś ś), Ž ž, (Ź ź).

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /a/

Letter

ä (upper case Ä)

1. The thirty-sixth letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) bukva; A a,  â, B b, C c, Č č, Ʒ ʒ, Ǯ ǯ, D d, Đ đ, E e, F f, G g, Ǧ ǧ, Ǥ ǥ, H h, I i, J j, K k, Ǩ ǩ, L l, M m, N n, Ŋ ŋ, O o, Õ õ, P p, R r, S s, Š š, T t, U u, V v, Z z, Ž ž, Å å, Ä ä, ʹ

Slovak

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /ɛ/, /ɛɐ̯/

Letter

ä (upper case Ä)

1. The third letter of the Slovak alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) písmeno; A a, Á á, Ä ä, B b, C c, Č č, D d, Ď ď, Dz dz, Dž dž, E e, É é, F f, G g, H h, Ch ch, I i, Í í, J j, K k, L l, Ĺ ĺ, Ľ ľ, M m, N n, Ň ň, O o, Ó ó, Ô ô, P p, Q q, R r, Ŕ ŕ, S s, Š š, T t, Ť ť, U u, Ú ú, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Ý ý, Z z, Ž ž

Further reading

• “ä”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Slovene

Etymology 1

From German ä, with its corresponding pronunciation, which is still used by some speakers, however, the majority of speakers have vernacularized the pronunciation to a long close-mid vowel regardless of the initial pronunciation.

Pronunciation 1

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /éː/, /èː/, [ɛ́ː]
• (letter name, common): IPA^(key): /prɛɡlaʃɛ̀ːni àː/, /prɛɡlaʃɛ̀ːni áː/ (preglašeni a)
• (letter name, educated): IPA^(key): /ɛ̀ː/, /ɛ́ː/
• Rhymes: -ɛː
• Homophone: e

Letter

ä (lower case, upper case Ä)

1. Additional letter in Slovene common mostly in loanwords from German.

Noun

ä m inan

1. (educated) The name of the Latin script letter Ä / ä.

Usage notes

It is more common to use the name preglašeni a than to use this name.

Inflection

• Overall more common

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine inan., soft o-stem
nom. sing.	ä
gen. sing.	ä-ja
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	ä	ä-ja	ä-ji
genitive (rodȋlnik)	ä-ja	ä-jev	ä-jev
dative (dajȃlnik)	ä-ju	ä-jema	ä-jem
accusative (tožȋlnik)	ä	ä-ja	ä-je
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	ä-ju	ä-jih	ä-jih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	ä-jem	ä-jema	ä-ji

• More common when with a definite adjective

Masculine inan., no endings
nom. sing.	ä
gen. sing.	ä
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	ä	ä	ä
accusative	ä	ä	ä
genitive	ä	ä	ä
dative	ä	ä	ä
locative	ä	ä	ä
instrumental	ä	ä	ä

Pronunciation 2

• (sound) IPA^(key): [æ]

Symbol

ä

1. (SNPT) Phonetic transcription of dialectal sound [æ].

Etymology 2

Letter a with diaeresis (¨) to signify centralization.

Pronunciation

• (Resian) IPA^(key): /ɐ/

Letter

ä (lower case, upper case Ä)

1. The second letter of the Resian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• a
• à
• á
• ã
• å
• ā
• ą
• ȁ
• ȃ
• ȧ

References

• Kenda-Jež, Karmen (2017 February 27) Fonetična trankripcija [Phonetic transcription]‎^[1] (in Slovene), Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU, Inštitut za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša, archived from the original on January 22, 2022, pages 27–30
• Steenwijk, Han (1994) Ortografia resiana = Tö jošt rozajanskë pïsanjë (overall work in Italian and Slovene), Padua: CLEUP

Southern Tutchone

Pronunciation

1. IPA^(key): /ə/

Letter

ä (upper case Ä)

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

Swedish

Alternative forms

• æ, aͤ (archaic)
• ā (handwriting)

Etymology

The word aͤng (äng, “meadow”) from year 1777, where the now obsolete variation aͤ is still used.

Originally a ligature of A and E. During the 16th century, the letter began to be written as an A with a lower case e ontop (Aͤ respectively aͤ). During the first decades of the 18th century, the use of umlaut emerged.

Pronunciation

Letter name

• IPA^(key): /ɛː/

Phoneme

• IPA^(key): /ɛː/, /ɛ/

Letter

ä (lower case, upper case Ä)

1. The second last letter of the Swedish alphabet, pronounced /ɛː/ when long, /ɛ/ when short, /æː/ when long and before r, and /æ/ when short and before r.

Declension

Declension of ä
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	ä	äet	än	äna
Genitive	äs	äets	äns	änas

Further reading

• ä in Svensk ordbok.

Teribe

Noun

ä

1. axe

References

• Gamarra A., Enrique, Villagra S., Inocencio (1980) Llëbo ñaglo lok kibokwogo ëre e lanyo = Vocabulario ilustrado teribe-español‎^[2] (overall work in Teribe and Spanish), Instituto Nacional de Cultura & Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, page 92

Turkmen

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /æ/, /æː/

Letter

ä (upper case Ä)

1. The sixth letter of the Turkmen alphabet, called ä and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) harp; A a, B b, Ç ç, D d, E e, Ä ä, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, Ž ž, K k, L l, M m, N n, Ň ň, O o, Ö ö, P p, R r, S s, Ş ş, T t, U u, Ü ü, W w, Y y, Ý ý, Z z

Volapük

Prefix

ä

1. Verbal prefix for the imperfect tense.

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /ˈaː/, /ˌa/

Letter

ä (upper case Ä)

1. The letter A, marked for its syllabic pronunciation distinct from adjacent vowels.