ا

See also: ـا, 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], ا-, I [U+0049 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I], l [U+006C LATIN SMALL LETTER L], and 1 [U+0031 DIGIT ONE]

ا U+0627, ا ARABIC LETTER ALEF ← ئ [U+0626] Arabic ب → [U+0628]

ﺍ U+FE8D, ﺍ ARABIC LETTER ALEF ISOLATED FORM ← ﺌ [U+FE8C] Arabic Presentation Forms-B ﺎ → [U+FE8E]

ﺎ U+FE8E, ﺎ ARABIC LETTER ALEF FINAL FORM ← ﺍ [U+FE8D] Arabic Presentation Forms-B ﺏ → [U+FE8F]

Arabic

Etymology 1

From the Nabataean Aramaic letter 𐢁 (l, “aleph”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤀 (l, “ālef”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓃾. See also Classical Syriac ܐ‎ (l, “ālef”), Hebrew א (l, “alef”), Ancient Greek Α (A), Latin A.

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: ـَا — IPA^(key): /aː/

• عَار (ʕār, “shame”)

(word initially):

Combined with fatha: اَ — IPA^(key): /a/

• اَلْيَوْمَ (al-yawma, “today”)

Combined with kasra: اِ — IPA^(key): /i/

• اِبْن (ibn, “son”)

Combined with damma: اُ — IPA^(key): /u/

• اُكْتُبْ (uktub, “write (imperative)”)

See also

• (Arabic script letters) ا (ʔalif), ب (bāʔ), ت (tāʔ), ث (ṯāʔ), ج (jīm), ح (ḥāʔ), خ (ḵāʔ), د (dāl), ذ (ḏāl), ر (rāʔ), ز (zāy), س (sīn), ش (šīn), ص (ṣād), ض (ḍād), ط (ṭāʔ), ظ (ẓāʔ), ع (ʕayn), غ (ḡayn), ف (fāʔ), ق (qāf), ك (kāf), ل (lām), م (mīm), ن (nūn), ه (hāʔ), و (wāw), ي (yāʔ)
• أ (ʔ)
• إ (ʔ)
• آ (ʔā)
• ى
• ٱ
• ـٰ
• Wikipedia article on the Arabic alphabet
• Search for entries beginning with ا

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

• IPA^(key): /aː/, [aː]

Letter

ا (aa)

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

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u/, [u]

Pronoun

اُ (u)

1. they; third-person plural pronoun

References

• Bechtholdt, Astrid (2025) “u”, in Burushaski Hunza Dictionary (Webonary), Dallas, Texas, USA: SIL International, published 2017.

Chinese

Pronunciation

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /a/, [ɑ]

Letter

ا

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

Egyptian Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic ا.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aː/
• (word-initial) IPA^(key): /a/, /u/, /i/

Letter

ا • (ā, a, u, i)

1. الف (álif): the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, named Alif, Alef or Aleph

   اموت ― amūt ― I die

   اوكازيون ― ukazyōn ― discount

   انت ― inta ― you (masculine singular)

   مات ― māt ― to die

Alternative forms

While the distinction is made in literary Arabic, the colloquial language uses these word-initial forms with the hamza interchangeably:

• أ (with damma or fatha)
• إ (with kasra)

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

• ٵ (front-vowel word-initial variant.
• Next letter: ب
• (Arabic script letters) ا, ب, پ, ت, ج, چ, ح, د, ر, ز, س, ش, ع, ف, ق, ك, گ, ڭ, ل, م, ن, ە, ھ, و, ۇ, ۋ, ۆ, ى, ي.

Khowar

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /alif/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /a/

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 name): IPA^(key): /aˈlif/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /ɑ/

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

• (Arabic script letters) ا, ب, پ, ﻥ, ﺕ, ﺝ, ﭺ, ﺡ, ﻑ, ﻕ, ﻉ, ك, گ, ڭ, ﻝ, ﻡ, و, ۅ, ۉ, ﯗ, ﯞ, ﺱ, ﺵ, ﺩ, ﺭ, ﺯ, ﻩ, ﻯ, ﯗﺀ, ﻰﺋ, ﻲ, ﻯ, ء, يۋ, ﻻ,

Malay

Pronunciation

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

Letter

ا / ‍ا

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

See also

• (Arabic script letters) ا,‎ ب,‎ ت,‎ ة,‎ ث,‎ ج,‎ چ,‎ ح,‎ خ,‎ د,‎ ذ,‎ ر,‎ ز,‎ س,‎ ش,‎ ص,‎ ض,‎ ط,‎ ظ,‎ ع,‎ غ,‎ ڠ,‎ ف,‎ ڤ,‎ ق,‎ ک,‎ ݢ,‎ ل,‎ م,‎ ن,‎ و,‎ ۏ,‎ ه,‎ ء,‎ ي,‎ ى,‎ ڽ ^[edit]

North Levantine Arabic

Suffix

ـا • (-a, -wa, -ya) f

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

Pahari-Potwari

Alternative forms

• (letter name): الف (alif)

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /ə.lɪf/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /ə/, /ɑː/, /äː/, /∅/

Letter

ا (alif)

1. The first letter of Pahari-Pothwari written in the Shahmukhi script.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا

See also

• Next letter: ب (b)

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

• (phoneme)

  (Classical Persian, Dari) IPA^(key): [ɑː], [ʔ]

  (Iran) IPA^(key): [ɒː], [ʔ]

  Audio (Iran):

  (file)

• (letter name)

  (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /alif/, [ʔalif]

  (Dari) IPA^(key): /alɪf/, [ʔalɪf]

  (Iran) IPA^(key): /ælef/, [ʔælef]

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 [ʔɑː]~[ʔɒː] it's usually written as آ.

See also

• Next letter: ب

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æ/

Preposition

ا • (a)

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

Further reading

• ا on the Persian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fa

Punjabi

Alternative forms

• Gurmukhi letter: ਅ (a), ੲ, ੳ, ਾ (ā)
• (letter name): الف (alif)

Etymology

From Classical Persian ا (alef), from Arabic ا (ʔalif).

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /ə.lɪf/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /ə/, /ɑː/, /äː/, /∅/

Letter

ا • (alif)

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

Forms

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا

See also

• Next letter: ب (b)
• (Shahmukhi script letters) ا, ب (b), پ (p), ت (t), ٹ (ṭ), ث (s̱), ج (j), چ (c), ح (ḥ), خ (x), د (d), ڈ (ḍ), ذ (ẕ), ر (r), ڑ (ṛ), ز (z), ژ (ž), س (s), ش (ś), ص (ṣ), ض (ẓ), ط (t̤), ظ (z̤), ع (ʻ), غ (ġ), ف (f), ق (q), ک (k), گ (g), ل (l), ࣇ (ḷ), م (m), ن (n), ݨ (ṇ), ں (ṉ), ہ (h), و (v), ی (y), ے (e) ^{(Category: Punjabi letters)}

Sindhi

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /ɑːlif/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /ɑː/, /ʔ/

Letter

ا • (alif)

1. The first letter of the Sindhi abjad.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا

See also

• (Letters of the Sindhi alphabet) ا, ب, ٻ, ڀ, ت, ٿ, ٽ, ٺ, ث, پ, ج, ڄ, جھ, ڃ, چ, ڇ, ح, خ, د, ڌ, ڏ, ڊ, ڍ, ذ, ر, ڙ, ڙھ, ز, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع, غ, ف, ڦ, ق, ڪ, ک, گ, ڳ, گھ, ڱ, ل, م, ن, ڻ, و, ه, ء, ي

• Next letter: ب

Urdu

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (letter name): (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ə.lɪf/
• (phoneme): (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ə/, /ɑː/, /ʔ/

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

• انـ (an-) (before vowels)

Prefix

اـ • (a-) (Hindi spelling अ-)

1. A negating prefix. non-, un-, a-, an-, etc.

   Synonyms: غَیرـ (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 name): IPA^(key): /a/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /a/

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