阿

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See also: 䧁
阿 U+963F, 阿
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-963F
← 阾
[U+963E] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 陀 →
[U+9640]

Translingual[edit]

Stroke order
8 strokes

Han character[edit]

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

Derived characters[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • 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

Chinese[edit]

simp. and trad.
 阿

Glyph origin[edit]

Historical forms of the character 阿
Warring States
Bronze inscriptions
Characters in the same phonetic series (可) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
砢 *ɡ·raːlʔ
柯 *kaːl
菏 *kaːl, *ɡaːl
牁 *kaːl
滒 *kaːl
哥 *kaːl
歌 *kaːl
謌 *kaːl
鴚 *kaːl
哿 *kaːlʔ
舸 *kaːlʔ
笴 *kaːlʔ, *kaːnʔ
軻 *kʰaːl, *kʰaːlʔ, *kʰaːls
珂 *kʰaːl
可 *kʰaːlʔ
岢 *kʰaːlʔ
坷 *kʰaːlʔ, *kʰaːls
蚵 *kʰaːls, *ɡaːl
呵 *qʰaːl, *qʰaːls
訶 *qʰaːl
抲 *qʰaːl
荷 *qʰaːls, *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ
何 *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ
河 *ɡaːl
苛 *ɡaːl
魺 *ɡaːl
袔 *ɡaːls
阿 *qaːl
妸 *qaːl, *qaːlʔ
疴 *qaːl, *kʰraːls
鈳 *qaːl
娿 *qaːl, *qaːlʔ
痾 *qaːl
跒 *kʰraːlʔ
閜 *qʰraːlʔ

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

Etymology 1[edit]

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔa(ŋ/k)- (“noun prefix”) (STEDT).

“atto-”
Borrowed from English atto-.

Pronunciation[edit]

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.
Note:
  • a - vernacular;
  • o - literary.
Note: 4aq - senses 1, 2, 3 only.

Definitions[edit]

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).
    alt. forms: 亞／亚 dated, 牙 Hong Kong Cantonese neologism
    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
  2. (Hokkien, honorific) Prefix to rank seniority for kinship terms.
    阿兄 [Hokkien]  ―  a-hiaⁿ [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  eldest brother
  3. (Northern Wu, including Suzhounese) Interrogative particle
    倷阿姓趙？ [Suzhounese, trad.]
    倷阿姓赵？ [Suzhounese, simp.]
    From: 1993, 蘇州方言詞典, page 20
    Is your surname Chao?
  4. Alternative form of 啊 (ā, á, ǎ, à, a, “particle”)
  5. Short for 阿富汗 (Āfùhàn, “Afghanistan”).
  6. Short for 阿爾巴尼亞／阿尔巴尼亚 (Ā'ěrbāníyà, “Albania”).
  7. Short for 阿拉伯 (Ālābó, “Arabic”).
  8. atto- (SI unit prefix)

Compounds[edit]

See also[edit]

SI prefix
Last Next
飛／飞 (fēi) 阿 介/仄

Descendants[edit]

  • → English: Ah

Etymology 2[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.
Note:
  • Quanzhou:
    • o - vernacular;
    • o͘ - literary.
Rime
Character 阿
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 影 (34)
Final (韻) 歌 (94)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 烏何切
Baxter 'a
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/ʔɑ/
Pan
Wuyun 		/ʔɑ/
Shao
Rongfen 		/ʔɑ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/ʔa/
Li
Rong 		/ʔɑ/
Wang
Li 		/ɑ/
Bernard
Karlgren 		/ʔɑ/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		ē
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		o1
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 阿 阿
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		ē ē
Middle
Chinese 		‹ ʔa › ‹ ʔa ›
Old
Chinese 		/*qˁa[j]/ /*ʔˁa/ (< *qˁaj)
English slope, river bank 阿會亘 ēhuìxuān: Skt. ābhāsvara “shining” (E. Hàn)

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 阿
Reading # 1/1
No. 7468
Phonetic
component 		可
Rime
group 		歌
Rime
subdivision 		1
Corresponding
MC rime 		阿
Old
Chinese 		/*qaːl/

Definitions[edit]

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

Compounds[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Sino-Xenic (阿):

Japanese[edit]

Kanji[edit]

阿

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

Readings[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Kanji in this term
阿
あ
Jinmeiyō
on’yomi

From Middle Chinese 阿 (MC 'a).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

阿(あ) • (a) 

  1. The first letter of Sanskrit, अ (a).
Derived terms[edit]
See also[edit]

Affix[edit]

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”).
Derived terms[edit]
to flatter; to pander to
phonetic element
others

Etymology 2[edit]

Kanji in this term
阿
くま
Jinmeiyō
kun’yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 阿 – see the following entry.
【くま】
[noun] 隈, 曲, 阿: corner, nook, recess
[noun] 隈, 曲, 阿: shade, shadow, dark area
[noun] 隈, 曲, 阿: dark circles under one's eyes. often clarified as 目の下のくま.
Alternative spellings
隈, 曲
(This term, 阿, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Korean[edit]

Hanja[edit]

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}}.

Compounds[edit]

References[edit]

Vietnamese[edit]

Han character[edit]

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

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

References[edit]

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