ا

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See also: أ , ٵ , اً, ٱ , آ , إ , and ا-

ا U+0627, ا
ARABIC LETTER ALEF
ئ
Arabic ب
U+FE8D, ﺍ
ARABIC LETTER ALEF ISOLATED FORM

Arabic Presentation Forms-B
U+FE8E, ﺎ
ARABIC LETTER ALEF FINAL FORM

Arabic Presentation Forms-B

Arabic

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /ʔa.lif/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /ʔ/

Letter

ا / ‍ا (ʔalif)

  1. Although usually considered to be the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, the small hamza (ء (ʔ)) that sits on top of أ (ʔ) is really the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and the tall column is its bearer. This entry only deals with the lower part, the bearer, which is called أَلِف (ʔalif) and, without the hamza, is used to lengthen a preceding a.

Descendants

  • N'Ko: ߊ

Symbol

ا (ʔalif)

  1. The first letter in traditional abjad order, which is used in place of numerals for list numbering (abjad numerals). It is followed by ب (b).
Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

Pronunciation

After fatha: ـَاIPA(key): /aː/

Combined with fatha: اَIPA(key): /ʔa/

Combined with kasra: اِIPA(key): /ʔi/

Combined with damma: اُIPA(key): /ʔu/

See also

Balti

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɑ/, /ə/, /e/, /o/

Letter

ا (transliteration needed)

  1. The first letter of the Balti alphabet, written in the Perso-Arabic script

Burushaski

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Letter

ا (aa)

  1. The first letter of the Burushaski alphabet, written in the Perso-Arabic script

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Pronoun

اُ (u)

  1. they; third-person plural pronoun

References

  • Bechtholdt, Astrid (2024), “u”, in Burushaski Hunza Dictionary (Webonary) (in Burushaski), Dallas, Texas, USA: SIL International, published 2017: “(in Latin script)”.

Chinese

Pronunciation

Letter

ا

  1. The first letter of the Xiao'erjing abjad.

Gujarati

Pronunciation

  • (letter name) IPA(key): /ɑlif/
  • (phoneme) IPA(key): /ɑ/, /ʔ/

Letter

ا (alif)

  1. The first letter of the Gujarati abjad

Forms

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also

  • Next letter: ب

Kashmiri

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /əlif/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /a/, /aː/

Letter

ا (a,ā)

  1. The first letter of the traditional alphabet chart of Kashmiri.

Forms

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also

  • Next letter: ب (b)

Kazakh

Alternative scripts
Arabic ا
Cyrillic А, а/Ә, ә
Latin A, a/Ä, ä
Yañalif A, a/Ə, ə

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /æˈlip/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /ɑ/ (back)
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /æ/ (front)

Letter

ا (a, ä)

  1. The first letter of the Kazakh in Arabic Script. It represents the Cyrillic letter А or Ә.

Forms

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

Usage notes

Represents the back-vowel sound /ɑ/, unless a small ء is placed at the beginning of the word. In Kazakh, the Hamza marks that all vowels in the following word are fronted. If ا is the initial letter of a word and is representing a front vowel, it is combined with the hamza and the variant ٵ is used.

See also

Khowar

Pronunciation

Letter

ا (ālif)

  1. The first letter of the Khowar abjad.

Forms

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also

  • Next letter: آ

Kyrgyz

Pronunciation

Letter

ا (alif)

  1. The first letter of the Kyrgyz in Arabic Script. It represents the Cyrillic letter А

Forms

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also

Malay

Malay Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ms

Pronunciation

Letter

ا / ‍ا

  1. The first letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Arabic script.

See also

North Levantine Arabic

Suffix

ـا (-a, -wa, -yaf

  1. Alternative spelling of ـها when it is not pronounced as “-ha”

Pashto

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /aˈlif/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /ɑ/, /ʔ/

Letter

ا (alíf)

  1. The first letter of the Pashto alphabet.

Forms

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

Usage notes

  • At the start of the word, the letter ا (alif) represents the consonant /ʔ/.
  • In the middle or end of a word, ا represents the vowel /ɑ/.

See also

  • Next letter: ب

Persian

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Persian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fa

Letter

ـا or ا (â or )

  1. The first letter of the Perso-Arabic alphabet. Its name is اَلِف (alef).

Usage notes

All word-initial vowels are proceeded by a glottal stop which is represented by an ا. However in medial and final positions it is not a glottal stop and instead represents the phoneme /ɑː/~/ɒː/. If a word-initial ا is representing the sound ~ it's usually written as آ.

See also

  • Next letter: ب

Etymology 2

From Arabic ـًا (-an, triptotic indefinite accusative ending).

Suffix

ـاً (-an)

  1. Used to form adverbs from nouns or adjectives.
Usage notes
  • This suffix mostly occurs with Arabic loanwords, but it is used somewhat peculiarly in Persian. Firstly, it also written out after words which, in Arabic, end in the feminine suffix ـَة (-a), e.g. نسبتاً (nesbatan, relatively). More importantly, it may at times occur with native Persian words and with Arabic words in which the ending would be ungrammatical, e.g. ناچاراً (nâčâran, inevitably), اقلاً (aqallan, at least).
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Preposition

ا (a)

  1. (dialectal, Hamadan, Harat) from, since

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

Suffix

ـا ()

  1. an adjective forming suffix
  2. a noun forming suffix
See also

Etymology 5

Alternative forms

  • یا (-yâ) (following a vowel)

Pronunciation

Suffix

ـا ()

  1. (chiefly literary) a vocative suffix
    خداونداxodâvandâO Lord!

Punjabi

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /əlif/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /ə/, /ɑː/, /äː/, /∅/

Letter

ا (transliteration needed)

  1. The first letter of the Punjabi written in the Shahmukhi script.

Forms

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also

Rajasthani

Pronunciation

Letter

ا (ảlif)

  1. The first letter of the Rajasthani abjad.

Forms

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also

  • Next letter: ب

Urdu

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Letter

ا (ālif)

  1. The first letter of the Urdu abjad.

Forms

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also

  • Next letter: ب (b)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Sanskrit अ- (a-).

Alternative forms

Prefix

اـ (a-) (Hindi spelling अ-)

  1. A negating prefix. non-, un-, a-, an-, etc.
    Synonyms: غَیر (ġair), ناـ (nā-)
Usage notes

This form is used before words that begin with consonants.

Derived terms
Category Urdu terms prefixed with ا not found

Yoruba

Pronunciation

Letter

ا (a)

  1. The first letter of the Yorùbá alphabet in the Ajami Script.

Forms

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See also

  • Next letter: ب