あ

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 安 in the cursive sōsho style.

• IPA^(key): [a̠]

• Audio:

  (file)

あ • (a) 

1. The hiragana syllable あ (a). Its equivalent in katakana is ア (a). It is the first syllable in the gojūon order; its position is あ行あ段 (a-gyō a-dan, “row a, section a”).

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Common exclamatory sound made by people of various cultures around the world.

• (Tokyo) あ [áꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [a̠]

あ or ア • (a) 

1. expresses surprise: Ah! Oh!

   Synonym: あっ (a')

2. used to get someone's attention
3. used as a response to someone's call

   Synonym: はい (hai)

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *a. The short form of あれ (are).

Fell into disuse in roughly the Heian period,^[2][1] when it was replaced by わ (wa).

あ • (a) 

1. (obsolete) first-person personal pronoun: I, me
   • c. 1001–1014, Murasaki Shikibu, Genji Monogatari (Yūgao)

     あが君(きみ)、生(い)き出(い)で給(たま)へ。いと、いみじき目(め)な見(み)せ給(たま)ひそ

     A ga kimi, iki ide tamahe. Ito, imi jiki me namisetamahiso

     Ye, return to life. Show not such sad eyes

/ka/ → /a/

Shift in pronunciation from か (ka). Appears from the Heian period.^[2]

あ • (a) 

1. distal demonstrative, something far off removed from both speaker and listener: that, yon

あ • (a) 

1. (obsolete) foot

あ • (a) 

1. (obsolete) ridge between rice fields; ridge between groves

Alternative spelling of あん (an), the onbin form of あり (ari) or ある (aru), with the ん (n) omitted in writing.

あ • (a) 

1. (Classical Japanese) to be, to exist
   • c. 1001–1014, Murasaki Shikibu, Genji Monogatari

     わざとあめるを、早(はや)うものせよかし。

     Wazato a meru o, hayō monoseyo kashi.

     It seems to be special [an invitation], so please go early.

• Satake, Akihiro with Hideo Yamada, Rikio Kudō, Masao Ōtani, and Yoshiyuki Yamazaki (c. 759) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 3: Man’yōshū 3 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, published 2002, →ISBN.
• Yamagishi, Tokuhei (1958) [c. 1001-1014] Koten Bungaku Taikei 14: Genji Monogatari 1 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN

From Proto-Ryukyuan *a, from Proto-Japonic *a.

あ (a) 

1. (Old Okinawan) I; first-person pronoun
   • 1531-1623, Omoro Sōshi

     あらかきの　うきおほちか　もりに　あか　なさ す　ふため　まさりよわれ

     arakaki no, uki ofoji ga, mori ni, a ga, nasa su, futame, masariyoware

     The ancestors of Arakaki, exceed the good fortune of my father.

   • 1711, Konkōkenshū:

     わん　又あか　我れなり

     wan, MATA a ga. WAre nari

     Wan. Also a ga. Me.

• Okinawa Kogo Daijiten Henshū I'inkai (沖縄古語大辞典編集委員会) (1995) 沖縄古語大辞典 [Dictionary of Archaic Okinawan], Tokyo (東京都): Kadokawa Shoten (角川書店), →ISBN, page 1