a

a · character, numeral, noun¹

1. Latin · derived fromā
2. Middle English · inherited fromā
3. English todaya

The letter name is from Middle English ā, from Old French, ultimately from Latin ā. Use of the Latin letter in (Old) English displaced the futhorc letter ᚪ (a) beginning in the 7th century, and partially also ᚫ (æ).

a · article²

1. Proto-Indo-European*ís?
2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
3. Proto-Germanic*ainaz
4. Proto-West Germanic*ain
5. Old Englishān
6. Middle Englishan
7. Middle Englisha
8. English todaya

From Middle English a, an, from Old English ān (“one; a; lone; sole”). More at one. The "n" was gradually lost before consonants in almost all dialects by the 15th century. Cognate with Alemannic German a (“a, an”), East Franconian a (“a, an”).

a · preposition³

1. Old English · inherited froma-
2. Middle English · inherited froma
3. English todaya

* From Middle English a, o, from Old English a-, an, on. * Unstressed form of on.

a · verb⁴

1. Middle English · inherited froma
2. English todaya

From Middle English a, ha contraction of have, or haven.

a · pronoun⁵

1. Middle English · inherited froma
2. English todaya

From Middle English a, a reduced form of he (“he”)/ha (“he”), heo (“she”)/ha (“she”), ha (“it”), and hie, hie (“they”).

a · preposition⁶

1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ep
2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂epó
3. Proto-Germanic*ab
4. Proto-West Germanic*ab
5. Old Englishæf
6. Old Englishof
7. Middle Englishof
8. English todaya

From Middle English of, with apocope of the final f and vowel reduction.

a · adverb, adjective⁷

1. Middle English · inherited fromaw
2. English todaya

From Northern Middle English aw, alteration of all.

a · contraction⁸

Contraction of gonna, itself a reduction of going to; see Etymology 8 above (“to”).

a · conjunction⁹

Contraction of and.

a · noun¹⁰

1. Russian · borrowed fromа
2. Russian · borrowed fromа
3. English todaya

Borrowed from Russian а (a).

a · noun¹¹

From the common method of counting semiquavers as "one-e-and-a, two-e-and-a" and so on, so forth.

A · character, numeral¹²

From Middle English and Old English upper case letter A and split of Middle English and Old English upper case letter Æ. * The Old English letters A and Æ replaced the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letters ᚪ (a, “āc”) and ᚫ (æ, “æsc”), derived from the Runic letter ᚫ (a, “Ansuz”), in the 7th century.

A · symbol, noun, adjective¹³

* (highest rank, grade, music): From the initial position of the letter A in the English alphabet. * (blood type): From A antigen

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from before 1150 An unspecified example of (something); the indefinite article.
• from before 1150 To do with separation; In, into.
• from before 1150 To do with time; Each, per, in, on, by. Often occurs between two nouns, where the first noun occurs at the end of a verbal phrase.
• from before 1150 To do with status; In.
• from before 1150 To do with position or direction; In, on, at, by, towards, onto.
• from before 1150 To do with process, with a passive verb; In the course of, experiencing.
• 16th c. To do with an action, an active verb; Engaged in.
• 16th c. To do with an action/movement; To, into.