阿

阿 (Kangxi radical 170, 阜+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 弓中一弓口 (NLMNR), four-corner 7122₀, composition ⿰阝可)

• 啊, 婀, 娿, 痾, 屙, 㢌, 䋪, 錒(锕)
• 𡹣, 𣶰, 𠥍, 𫮄, 𫕖, 𨼼, 𨵌(𬮰)
• 𮥌, 𮀄, 𮀫, 𭊎, 𬯜, 𬁭, 𬯣, 𬯩

• ア (Katakana character derived from Man'yōgana)
• 𛀄 (Hentaigana character derived from Man'yōgana)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1348, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 41599
• Dae Jaweon: page 1850, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 4119, character 11
• Unihan data for U+963F

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *qaːl): semantic 阜 + phonetic 可 (OC *kʰaːlʔ): Originally meaning a big mound.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔa(ŋ/k)- (noun prefix) (STEDT). Compare Burmese အ- (a.-, “idem”) (Schuessler, 2007, p. 149).

“atto-”

Borrowed from English atto-.

阿

1. Prefix used in front of the surname or last character of someone’s given name to express familiarity or friendliness (traditionally used in rural or southern Chinese dialects).

   Alternative forms: (dated) 亞 / 亚, (Hong Kong Cantonese neologism) 牙

   阿爸  ―  ābà  ―  dad

   阿扁  ―  Ā Biǎn  ―  Ah Bian (Chen Shui-bian)

   《阿Q正傳》／《阿Q正传》  ―  “Āqiū Zhèngzhuàn”  ―  The True Story of Ah Q

   • 2016, “阿珍爱上了阿强”, 仁科, 茂涛 (lyrics), 茂涛 (music), performed by 五条人:

     阿珍愛上了阿強 / 在一個有星星的夜晚 [MSC, trad.]
     阿珍爱上了阿强 / 在一个有星星的夜晚 [MSC, simp.]

     Ā Zhēn àishàng le Ā Qiáng  /  zài yīge yǒu xīngxīng de yèwǎn [Pinyin]

     A Zhen fell in love with A Qiang / One night under a starlit sky

2. (Hokkien, honorific) Prefix to rank seniority for kinship terms.

   阿兄 [Hokkien]  ―  a-hiaⁿ [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  eldest brother

3. alternative form of 啊 (ā, á, ǎ, à, a, particle)
4. Used in transcription.

   阿尔及利亚  ―  Ā'ěrjílìyà  ―  Algeria

   阿根廷  ―  Āgēntíng  ―  Argentina

   阿曼  ―  Āmàn  ―  Oman

   阿姆斯特丹  ―  Āmǔsītèdān  ―  Amsterdam

   阿克拉  ―  Ākèlā  ―  Accra

   阿歷山大／阿历山大  ―  Ālìshāndà  ―  Alexander

   阿們／阿们  ―  Āmen  ―  amen

   阿米巴  ―  āmǐbā  ―  amoeba

   阿伯丁 [Cantonese]  ―  aa³ baak³ ding¹ [Jyutping]  ―  Aberdeen

   1. short for 阿富汗 (Āfùhàn, “Afghanistan”)
   2. short for 阿爾巴尼亞／阿尔巴尼亚 (Ā'ěrbāníyà, “Albania”)
   3. short for 阿拉伯 (Ālābó, “Arabic”)
5. atto- (SI unit prefix)

• → English: Ah

From 何 (hé).

阿

1. (Nanjing Mandarin, Northern Wu, including Suzhounese) Interrogative particle

   • 倷阿是蘇州人？ [Suzhounese, trad.]
     倷阿是苏州人？ [Suzhounese, simp.]

     ⁶ne ⁷aeq-zy₆ ¹sou-tseu₁-gnin₂ [Wugniu]

     Are you Suzhounese?

   • 你阿是先生？ [Nanjing Mandarin, trad. and simp.]

     Lǐ åq shiī siènsen? [Nankinese Pinyin]

     Are you a teacher?

   • 阿要辣油啊？ [Nanjing Mandarin, trad. and simp.]

     [Do you] need chili oil?

   • 1993, 蘇州方言詞典, page 20:

     倷阿姓趙？ [Suzhounese, trad.]
     倷阿姓赵？ [Suzhounese, simp.]

     ⁶ne ⁷aeq-sin₅ ⁶zau [Wugniu]

     Is your surname Chao?

阿

1. big mound; mountain
2. hillside
3. fine silks
4. (literary, of a mountain or stream) bend; corner
5. waterside
6. nearby; near
7. to flatter; to pander to

   阿諛奉承／阿谀奉承  ―  ēyúfèngchéng  ―  sweet-talking

8. to be unfairly partial to
9. alternative form of 屙 (ē, “to excrete”)
10. a surname

• “阿”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “阿”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.
• “阿”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.
• “Entry #5546”, in 臺灣客語辭典 [Dictionary of Taiwan Hakka] (overall work in Chinese and Hakka), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2022.
• “Entry #13246”, in 臺灣客語辭典 [Dictionary of Taiwan Hakka] (overall work in Chinese and Hakka), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2022.
• 周存 [Zhōu, Cún], editor (2023), “阿”, in 长汀话词典 CHANGTINGHUA CIDIAN [Dictionary of Changting Dialect] (overall work in Hakka and Mandarin), Guangzhou: 世界图书出版有限公司 [World Book Publishing Co., Ltd.], →ISBN, page 1.
• 李如龙 [Li, Ru-long], 刘福铸 [Liu, Fu-zhu], 吴华英 [Wu, Hua-ying], 黄国城 [Huang, Guo-cheng] (2019) “阿（～胶、～哥）”, in 莆仙方言调查报告 [Investigation Report on Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 127.

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

• Go-on: あ (a)
• Kan-on: あ (a)
• Kun: くま (kuma, 阿)、おもねる (omoneru, 阿る)
• Nanori: お (o)、くま (kuma)

From Middle Chinese 阿 (MC 'a).

• IPA^(key): [a̠]

阿(あ) • (a) 

1. The first letter of Sanskrit, अ (a).

• 阿(あ)字(じ) (aji)
• 阿(あ)吽(うん) (aun)

• 吽(うん) (un)
• 梵(ぼん)字(じ) (bonji)

阿(あ) • (a) 

1. to flatter; to pander to
2. ridge (of roof); eaves
3. A prefix expressing familiarity.
4. Used as a phonetic element, especially in words from Sanskrit.
5. short for アフリカ (Afurika, “Africa”)
6. short for 阿波国 (Awa no kuni, “Awa Province”)

阿 (eumhun 언덕 아 (eondeok a))
阿 (eumhun 호칭 옥 (hoching ok))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• 아편 (阿片, apyeon)

• Naver Hanja Dictionary: 阿

阿: Hán Việt readings: a, á
阿: Nôm readings: a, à

(classifier 丐 (cái)) 阿

1. chữ Hán form of a (“a cutting tool consisting of two blades inserted into a long handle to cut grass or to harvest rice”)

• Nom Foundation