ā

Letter

ā (upper case Ā)

1. The letter a with a macron.

Abbreviation

ā

1. (medicine) ante

Noun

ā

1. jaw

Romanization

ā

1. Rōmaji transcription of ああ

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.

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

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Romanization

ā (Zhuyin ㄚ)

1. Pinyin transcription of 吖
2. Pinyin transcription of 腌
3. Pinyin transcription of 阿
4. Pinyin transcription of 啊
5. Pinyin transcription of 錒, 锕

Letter

ā (upper case Ā)

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

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

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

Etymology 3

Shift from ae (“yes”).

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.

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.

Numeral

ā

1. (cardinal) four

Pronoun

ā

1. (interrogative) what

   ʻO le ā le mea lea?

   What is this thing?