ā

See also: Ā, ā-, ʻā, and Appendix:Variations of "a"

ā U+0101, ā LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH MACRON Composition: a [U+0061] + ◌̄ [U+0304] ← Ā [U+0100] Latin Extended-A Ă → [U+0102]

Translingual

Letter

ā (upper case Ā)

1. The letter a with a macron.

Usage notes

• It is usually used to denote long "a" or the middle tone of "a".

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
• (Letters using macron sign or underline sign):  Āā  Ǟǟ  Ḇḇ  C̄c̄  Ḏḏ  Ēē  Ḕḕ  Ḗḗ  Ḡḡ  ẖ  Īī  Ḹḹ  Ḻḻ  Ṉṉ  Ōō  Ȫȫ  Ṑṑ  Ṓṓ  Ṝṝ  Ṟṟ  Ṯṯ  Ūū  Ǘǘ  Ǖǖ  Ṻṻ  Ȳȳ  Ẕẕ  Ǣǣ
• āā

Hawaiian

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Preposition

ā

1. when, at the same time as
2. until, to
3. as far as

Conjunction

ā

1. and
2. so
3. (rare) and then
4. (rare) but

See also

• paha as a conjunction

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

ā

1. jaw, cheekbone
2. a surgical instrument made of smooth bone traditionally used to perform procedures including lancing and abortion

Verb

ā

1. to talk a lot, chatter, jabber, blabber
2. to be talkative, noisy

Derived terms

• hōʻā
• āʻōʻō

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

ā

1. a mold used in souring foods such as poi

References

• Pukui, Mary Kawena; Elbert, Samuel H. (1957), “ā”, in English–Hawaiian Dictionary. In Nā Puke Wehewehe ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi‎^[1], 2003.

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ə]

Letter

ā

1. (obsolete) The second letter of the 1901-1947 orthography, written in Latin script.

Japanese

Romanization

ā

1. Rōmaji transcription of ああ

Jersey Dutch

Pronunciation

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /ɑ/

Letter

ā

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

Latvian

Etymology

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [aː]

Letter

Ā

ā (lower case, upper case Ā)

1. The second letter of the Latvian alphabet, called garais ā and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Despite being an independent letter with its own position in the Latvian alphabet, Ā/ā, like all long vowels with macrons, is treated as a simple A/a in alphabetized lists (e.g., in dictionaries).

See also

• Letters of the Latvian alphabet:

  burti: Aa, Āā, Bb, Cc, Čč, Dd, Ee, Ēē, Ff, Gg, Ģģ, Hh, Ii, Īī, Jj, Kk, Ķķ, Ll, Ļļ, Mm, Nn, Ņņ, Oo, Pp, Rr, Ss, Šš, Tt, Uu, Ūū, Vv, Zz, Žž

Livonian

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /ɑː/

Letter

ā (upper case Ā)

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

See also

• (Latin-script letters) kēratēḑ; A a, Ā ā, Ä ä, Ǟ ǟ, B b, D d, Ḑ ḑ, 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

Mandarin

Alternative forms

• a – nonstandard

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Romanization

ā (a¹, Zhuyin ㄚ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 吖
2. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 呵
3. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 啊
4. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 嬶
5. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 腌
6. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 錒／锕
7. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 阿
8. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𠼞
9. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𥥩
10. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𨉚
11. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𫮄
12. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𮤴
13. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𮥀
14. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𰛄

Maori

Letter

ā (upper case Ā)

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

See also

• (Latin-script letters) A a, Ā ā, E e, Ē ē, H h, I i, Ī ī, K k, M m, N n, O o, Ō ō, P p, R r, T t, U u, Ū ū, W w, Ng ng, Wh wh

Etymology 1

Likely cognate with Hawaiian ā (“jaw; cheekbone”).

Noun

ā

1. collarbone

Etymology 2

Likely cognate with Hawaiian ʻā (“to drive, to urge (such as cattle)”).

Verb

ā (passive āia or āngia)

1. to drive something, such as cattle or other livestock
2. to urge or compel something to move

Etymology 3

Alternative form of āe.

Interjection

ā

1. yeah, yes

Ngam

Verb

ā

1. (auxiliary) Used to express the future tense

   Lòtī tā̰á̰ m-ā m-āw

   Tomorrow, I will leave

References

Keegan, John (2014). The Eastern Sara Languages. Ceunca, Spain: Morkeg Books. p. 223.

Rarotongan

Rarotongan cardinal numbers

<  3	4	5  >
Cardinal : ā

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *fa, from Proto-Oceanic *pat, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *pat, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *pat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat. Cognate with Indonesian empat.

Numeral

ā

1. four

Samoan

Pronoun

ā

1. (interrogative) what

   ʻO le ā le mea lea?

   What is this thing?

Slovene

Etymology

Letter a with macron ◌̄ to signify presence of both pitches.

Pronunciation

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /àː/, IPA^(key): /áː/

Symbol

ā

1. (tonal SNPT) Phonetic transcription of sound [aː] when it can bear either pitch.

Usage notes

Symbol is sometimes used as a letter to denote pitch in a word, but that is mostly limited to foreign or specialized dictionaries.

See also

• a
• á
• à
• ȃ
• ȁ

Swedish

Etymology

From the perceived ease and speed of writing a macron (¯) compared to an umlaut (¨).

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /ɛː/, /ɛ/

Letter

ā (lower case, upper case Ā)

1. (in handwriting) Alternative form of ä

See also

• ō