See also: أ [U+0623 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA ABOVE]‎, ٵ [U+0675 ARABIC LETTER HIGH HAMZA ALEF]‎, اً‎, ٱ [U+0671 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WASLA]‎, آ [U+0622 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WITH MADDA ABOVE]‎, إ [U+0625 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA BELOW], and ا-

ا U+0627, ا
ARABIC LETTER ALEF
ئ
[U+0626]
Arabic ب
[U+0628]
U+FE8D, ﺍ
ARABIC LETTER ALEF ISOLATED FORM

[U+FE8C]
Arabic Presentation Forms-B
[U+FE8E]
U+FE8E, ﺎ
ARABIC LETTER ALEF FINAL FORM

[U+FE8D]
Arabic Presentation Forms-B
[U+FE8F]

ArabicEdit

PronunciationEdit

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

LetterEdit

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.

SymbolEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

After fatha: ـَاIPA(key): /aː/

Combined with fatha: اَIPA(key): /ʔa/

Combined with kasra: اِIPA(key): /ʔi/

Combined with damma: اُIPA(key): /ʔu/

See alsoEdit

BaltiEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ɑ/, /ə/, /e/, /o/

LetterEdit

ا (â)

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

BurushaskiEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

ا

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

ChineseEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /a/, [ɑ]

LetterEdit

ا

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

KashmiriEdit

PronunciationEdit

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

LetterEdit

ا (a,ā)

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

FormsEdit

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See alsoEdit

  • Next letter: ب(b)

KazakhEdit

Cyrillic А, а/Ә, ә (A, a/Ä, ä)
Arabic ا
Latin A, a/Ä, ä

PronunciationEdit

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

LetterEdit

ا (a, ä)

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

FormsEdit

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

Usage notesEdit

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 alsoEdit

KhowarEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

ا (ālif)

  1. The first letter of the Khowar abjad.

FormsEdit

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See alsoEdit

  • Next letter: آ

KyrgyzEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

ا (alif)

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

FormsEdit

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See alsoEdit

MalayEdit

 
Malay Wikipedia has an article on:
ا
Wikipedia ms

PronunciationEdit

  • (Name of letter) IPA(key): [alef]
  • (Phoneme) IPA(key): [ä], [ɐ], [ə]

LetterEdit

ا / ‍ا

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

See alsoEdit

North Levantine ArabicEdit

SuffixEdit

ـا (-a, -wa, -yaf

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

PashtoEdit

PronunciationEdit

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

LetterEdit

ا (alif)

  1. The first letter of the Pashto alphabet.

FormsEdit

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

Usage notesEdit

  • 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 alsoEdit

  • Next letter: ب

PersianEdit

Etymology 1Edit

PronunciationEdit

 
Persian Wikipedia has an article on:
ا
Wikipedia fa

LetterEdit

ا (a, a, e, o)

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

Usage notesEdit

The phonemes /a/, /ɪ/, and /ʊ/ no longer exist in Iranian Persian and should only be pronounced in Dari or Tajik. The short-vowels /a/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/, or /æ/, /e/, /o/ are only denoted with alef in the beginning of a word. If a word-initial Alef is representing the sound /ɑː/ or /ɒː/ it's usually written as آ

See alsoEdit

  • Next letter: ب

Etymology 2Edit

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

SuffixEdit

ـاً (-an)

  1. Used to form adverbs from nouns or adjectives.
Usage notesEdit
  • 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 termsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

PronunciationEdit

PrepositionEdit

ا (a)

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

Etymology 4Edit

PronunciationEdit

SuffixEdit

ـا ()

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

Etymology 5Edit

Alternative formsEdit

  • یا(-yâ) (following a vowel)

PronunciationEdit

SuffixEdit

ـا ()

  1. (chiefly literary) a vocative suffix
    خداوندا‎ ― xodâvandâO Lord!

PunjabiEdit

PronunciationEdit

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

LetterEdit

ا (a)

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

FormsEdit

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See alsoEdit

RajasthaniEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

ا (ảlif)

  1. The first letter of the Rajasthani abjad.

FormsEdit

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See alsoEdit

  • Next letter: ب

UrduEdit

Etymology 1Edit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

ا (ālif)

  1. The first letter of the Urdu abjad.

FormsEdit

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See alsoEdit

  • Next letter: ب

Etymology 2Edit

Borrowed from Sanskrit अ- (a-).

Alternative formsEdit

  • انـ(an-) (before vowels)

PrefixEdit

اـ (a-) (Hindi spelling अ-‎)

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

This form is used before words that begin with consonants.

Derived termsEdit

YorubaEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

ا (a)

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

FormsEdit

Isolated form Final form
ا ـا

See alsoEdit

  • Next letter: ب