a-

See also: A-, A−, -a, -a-, á-, ā-, а-, and Variations of "a"

a- - Translingual

Prefix

Used to form taxonomic names indicating a lack of some feature that might be expected

Derived terms

Translingual terms prefixed with a-

a- - English

Pronunciation

IPA: /ə/

Prefix

(no longer productive) Forming verbs with the sense away, up, on, out.
- arise, await
(no longer productive) Forming verbs with the sense of intensified action.
- abide, amaze

Pronunciation

IPA: /ə/

Prefix

(rare or no longer productive) In, on, at; used to show a state, condition, or manner. Also passing into sense 2.
- apace, afire, aboil, a-bling
(no longer productive) In, into. Also passing into sense 5.
- asunder
In the direction of, or toward.
- astern, abeam
(archaic, dialectal) At such a time.
- Come a-morning we are going hunting.
(archaic, dialectal) In the act or process of. Used in some dialects before a present participle.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

IPA: /ə/

Prefix

Alternative form of y- (archaic and dialectal) In dialect, it is sometimes conflated with sense 5 of the previous definition, and is used as a general indicator of a participle.
- aware, alike
(Devon) Used to form the past participle of a verb.
- I have a-gone.
- I have a-seen a bird.

Pronunciation

IPA: /ə/

Prefix

(no longer productive) Forming words with the sense of wholly, or utterly out.
- abash

Pronunciation

(US, UK) IPA: /eɪ/
(Philippine) IPA: /ə/, /a/ (not in atheist)

Prefix

Not, without, opposite of.
- amoral, asymmetry, atheism, asexual, acyclic, atypical

Usage notes

This prefix is referred to as alpha privative.
Used with stems that begin with consonants except sometimes h. an- is synonymous and is used in front of words that start with vowels and sometimes h. For example, anesthetic and analgesic.

Synonyms

(not): an-, dys-, i-/il-/im-/in-/ir-, mal-, non-, un-

Translations

Asturian: a-
Catalan: a- (ca)
Danish: -a
Dutch: a- (nl)
French: a- (fr)
Galician: a- (gl)
German: a- (de)
Irish: a-
Italian: a- (it)
Latvian: a-
Norwegian:
- Bokmål: a- (no)
- Nynorsk: a-
Occitan: a-
Polish: a- (pl)
Portuguese: a- (pt)
Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: а-
- Roman: a-
Spanish: a- (es), an- (es)

Prefix

(no longer productive) Towards; Used to indicate direction, reduction to, increase to, change into, or motion.
- ascend, aspire, amass, abandon, avenue

Usage notes

Used on stems that started with sc, sp, or st, and also used on stems with a French origin.
Used in place of ad-.

Prefix

(no longer productive) Away from.
- avert, aperient, abridge, assoil, assoilzie

Usage notes

Variation of the prefix ab-, only used when the stem starts with the letter p or v, or (rarely) s in which case the s is doubled (as in assoil and assoilzie).

Prefix

(no longer productive) Of, from.
- anew, afresh, athirst

Usage notes

Different Germanic senses of a- became confused – vaguely “intensive” – and are no longer productive. The Greek sense of “not” (e.g., amoral, asymmetry) remains productive.

“[I]t naturally happened that all these a- prefixes were at length confusedly lumped together in idea, and the resultant a- looked upon as vaguely intensive, rhetorical, euphonic [nice-sounding], or even archaic, and wholly otiose [pointless].” OED.

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with a-

Prefix

Alternative form of -a (“empty syllable added to songs, poetry, verse and other speech”)

Prefix

(Chester) Used as a prefix to verbs in the sense of remaining in the same condition. Actively doing something.
- a-be, a-going
- Let that choilt a-be, wilt ta. ― Let that child alone, will you.

Prefix

(nonstandard) A syllable added by a speaker supposed to be Italian, or used to mimic or mock Italian accents; a pseudo-Italian syllable.
- It's a-me, Mario.

a- - A-Pucikwar

Prefix

prefix attached to words relating to the mouth, such as the names of languages

a- - Catalan

Prefix

a- (not, without)
- ‎a- + ‎moral (“moral”) → ‎amoral (“amoral”)

Derived terms

Catalan terms prefixed with a-

Prefix

Used to make verbs from adjectives and nouns
- ‎a- + ‎feble (“weak”) → ‎afeblir (“to weaken”)
- ‎a- + ‎sabor (“taste”) → ‎assaborir (“to taste”)

Derived terms

Catalan terms prefixed with a-

a- - Danish

Prefix

a-, un- (not)
A- (atomic, nuclear)
- Synonyms: atom-, A-

Derived terms

Danish terms prefixed with a-

a- - Dutch

Pronunciation

IPA: /aː/

Prefix

a-: Not, without, opposite of.

Derived terms

Dutch terms prefixed with a-

a- - Esperanto

Prefix

without, -less

Derived terms

Esperanto terms prefixed with a-

Related terms

mal-, ne-, sen-

a- - Finnish

Pronunciation

IPA: /ˈɑ-/, [ˈɑ̝-]

Prefix

(in loanwords) a-, non-, un-
- Synonym: epä-

a- - French

Pronunciation

IPA: /a/

Prefix

A prefix forming words, especially verbs, that denote entering a state, making progress toward a goal, or the like.

Prefix

a-, non-, -less

Derived terms

French terms prefixed with a-

a- - German

Pronunciation

IPA: /a/

Prefix

a- (not, without, opposite of)

Derived terms

German terms prefixed with a-

a- - Indonesian

Pronunciation

IPA: [a]
Hyphenation: a

Prefix

a- (not, without, opposite of)

Derived terms

Indonesian terms prefixed with a-

a- - Irish

Alternative forms

ai- (before a palatalized consonant, both etymologies)

Pronunciation

IPA: /a/, /ə/

Pronunciation

IPA: /a/

Prefix

a- (not, without, opposite of)

Derived terms

Irish terms prefixed with a-

Prefix

Alternative form of ath- used before t

a- - Italian

Prefix

ad- (indicating direction)

Usage notes

The Italian prefix a- often reduplicates the following consonant (syntactic gemination, raddoppiamento fonosintattico).
The actual forms usually will be ab- (in abbracciare), ac- (in accorrere), ad- (in addestrare), al- (in allargare) etc.

Prefix

a- (indicating lack or loss)

Alternative forms

an- (before a vowel)

Derived terms

Italian terms prefixed with a-

a- - Latin

Prefix

ā-

Alternative form of ab-

Usage notes

Used before bilabial voiced consonants: b-, m- and v-.

Prefix

(Before a word beginning with sc, sp or st) Alternative form of ad-
- ‎a- + ‎scandere (“climb”) → ‎ascendere (“climb up, go up; rise, spring up”)
- ‎a- + ‎scrībere (“write”) → ‎ascrībere (“state in writing, add in writing; insert; appoint, enroll, enfranchise, reckon, number”)
- ‎a- + ‎spīrāre (“breathe”) → ‎aspīrāre (“breathe or blow upon; am favorable to, assist, favor, aid; aspire or desire (to); approach, come near (to)”)
- ‎a- + ‎specere (“observe, look at”) → ‎aspicere (“look at or towards, behold; regard, respect; observe, notice; examine, inspect; consider, ponder”)
- ‎a- + ‎stringere (“press, tighten, compress”) → ‎astringere (“draw close, bind or tie together; tighten, contract; check, restrain; oblige, necessitate”)
- ‎a- + ‎struere (“compose, construct, build; ready, prepare; place, arrange”) → ‎astruere (“build near or to a thing, erect; build on, heap; build an additional structure”)

a- - Latvian

Pronunciation

IPA: [a]

Prefix

Not, not having, without, opposite of.
- ‎a- + ‎seksuāls → ‎aseksuāls

a- - Maquiritari

Pronunciation

IPA: [a-]

Prefix

allomorph of öt- (detransitivizing prefix).
Allomorph of ö- (second-person prefix) used for stems that begin with a consonant and have a first vowel a or e.

Inflection

	pronoun	noun possessor/ series II verb argument		postposition object		series I verb argument
	pronoun	noun possessor/ series II verb argument		postposition object		transitive patient	intransitive patient-like		intransitive agent-like	transitive agent
first person	ewü	y-, ∅-, ü-, u-¹						w-, wi-
first person dual inclusive	küwü	k-, kü-, ku-, ki-								k-, kii-, ki-¹
second person	amödö	ö-, öy-/öd-, o-, oy-/od-, a-, ay-/ad-							m-, mi-
first person dual exclusive	nña	y-/d-, ch-, ∅-, i-¹			chö-	∅-	n-, ni-
third person	tüwü	y-/d-, ch-, ∅-, i-¹			chö-	n-, ni-	n-, ni-
distant past third person	tüwü	—				kün-, kun-, kin-, ken-, küm-, kum-, kim-, kini-
coreferential/reflexive	—	t-, tü-, tu-, ti-, te-				—
reciprocal	—	—	öö-
With following vowel lengthened if in an unreduced open syllable.

	series I verb argument: transitive agent and transitive patient
first person > second person	mön-, man-, mon-, möm-, möni-
first person dual exclusive > second person	mön-, man-, mon-, möm-, möni-
second person > first person	k-, kü-, ku-, ki-
second person > first person dual exclusive	k-, kü-, ku-, ki-
third person > any person X …or… any person X > third person	see person X in the chart above

a- - Mohawk

Alternative forms

aon- (before s- (“iterative”) and t- (“cislocative”))

Prefix

irrealis prefix

a- - Murui Huitoto

Pronunciation

IPA: [a-]

Prefix

(unproductive) Used to form a few adverbs signifying a location or motion from or to above.

Derived terms

Murui Huitoto terms prefixed with a-

Related terms

a- - Navajo

Prefix

someone's, people's

Usage notes

This prefix is often used as a neutral possessive pronoun to make the citation forms of inalienable nouns: amá (“someone's mother”), akʼos (“someone's neck”), ajáád (“someone's leg”), ajááʼ (“someone's ear”), akʼéí (“someone's kin”). The alternative is to use the prefix ha- (“one's”) or bi- (“his/her/its/their”) to make these dictionary forms.

a- - Northern Ndebele

Prefix

a- (medial wa-)

they; class 6 subject concord.

Prefix

of; class 6 possessive concord.

Prefix

Class 6 relative concord.

a- - Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

IPA: /ɑː/
Hyphenation: a-
Homophones: A, a, A-, à, ah

Prefix

indicating the first or best in something
- Synonyms: a, A-
- ‎a- + ‎lag → ‎a-lag

Prefix

a- (not, without, opposite of)
- Synonyms: a, an-
- ‎a- + ‎politisk (“political”) → ‎apolitisk (“apolitical”)
- ‎a- + ‎sosial (“social”) → ‎asosial (“asocial”)
- ‎a- + ‎symmetrisk (“symmetrical”) → ‎asymmetrisk (“asymmetrical”)
- ‎a- + ‎gnostiker (“gnostic”) → ‎agnostiker (“agnostic”)

Alternative forms

Derived terms

Norwegian Bokmål terms prefixed with a-

Prefix

Short for atom-.
- ‎a- + ‎bombe → ‎a-bombe

Anagrams

A, A-, a

a- - Norwegian Nynorsk

Prefix

a- (not, without)

Derived terms

Norwegian Nynorsk terms prefixed with a-

a- - Old English

Alternative forms

ar-, a-

Pronunciation

IPA: /ɑː/

Prefix

ā-

from, away, off, out
- āniman ― to take away, to remove

Derived terms

Old English terms prefixed with a-

Descendants

Middle English: a-
- English: a-

a- - Old French

Prefix

indicating movement towards something
(by extension) indicating a change of state
intensifying prefix
alternative form of es-

Derived terms

Old French terms prefixed with a-

a- - Old Irish

Prefix

a- (class A infixed pronoun)

him (triggers eclipsis)
it (triggers lenition)

Usage notes

This form merges with the prefixes ro-, no-, di-, to-, fo-, ar-, and imm- to form ra-, na-, da-, da-, fa-, ara-, imma- respectively. It disappears after the particle ní (“not”), its only trace being the mutation it causes (eclipsis in the case of the masculine, lenition in the case of the neuter), thus ní cara (does not love) vs. ní chara (does not love it), ní ben (does not strike) vs. ní mben (does not strike him).

Derived terms

Old Irish terms prefixed with a-

a- - Old Javanese

Prefix

active verb

Synonyms

ma-
-um-

Derived terms

Old Javanese terms prefixed with a-

a- - Old Saxon

Pronunciation

IPA: /ɑː/

Prefix

ā-

forming words with the sense from, away, out, off, e.g. āniman

Derived terms

Old Saxon terms prefixed with a-

a- - Phuthi

Prefix

a- (medial wa-)

they; class 6 subject concord.

a- - Polish

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

IPA: /a/
Syllabification: a

Prefix

forming words with the sense of negation, a-
- ‎a- + ‎społeczny → ‎aspołeczny

Derived terms

Polish terms prefixed with a-

a- - Portuguese

Pronunciation

(Brazil) IPA: /ˌa/
(Portugal) IPA: /ɐ/

Prefix

added to adjective X, forms verbs meaning to make/turn X
- ‎a- + ‎vermelho (“red”) + ‎-ar → ‎avermelhar (“to redden”)
- ‎a- + ‎baixo (“low”) + ‎-ar → ‎abaixar (“to lower”)
added to noun X, forms verbs meaning to cause or make X or to cause something to have X
- ‎a- + ‎pavor (“dread”) + ‎-ar → ‎apavorar (“to frighten”)
- ‎a- + ‎fama (“fame”) + ‎-ar → ‎afamar (“to make famous”)

Prefix

a- (not; without)
- Synonym: in-

Derived terms

Portuguese terms prefixed with a-

a- - Scots

Pronunciation

IPA: /ə/

Prefix

on
- aback, agley, agrufe, athort, atween

Prefix

off
- adoon

Prefix

to
- adae, agae

Prefix

away from
- abide, arise

Prefix

against, opposite
- alang

Prefix

one
- awhile

Prefix

ah
- aweel, alake

Prefix

towards
- avise

Prefix

away from
- assoilzie

a- - Serbo-Croatian

Prefix

a- (Cyrillic spelling а-)

Prefix prepended to words to denote a negation, deprivation or absence of a property denoted by base word.
- - ‎a- + ‎sȍcijālan → ‎ȁsocijālan
  - ‎a- + ‎simètrija → ‎asimètrija
  - ‎a- + ‎brahija → ‎abrahija
- Synonyms: bez-, ne-

a- - Southern Ndebele

Prefix

a- (medial wa-)

they; class 6 subject concord.

Prefix

of; class 6 possessive concord.

Prefix

Class 6 relative concord.

a- - Spanish

Prefix

a prefix forming words, especially verbs, that denote entering a state, making progress toward a goal, or the like

Prefix

a-, non-, -less

Usage notes

Used with stems that begin with consonants except h. an- is synonymous and is used in front of words that start with vowels and h. For example, analfabetismo (“analphabetism”).

Derived terms

Spanish terms prefixed with a-

a- - Swahili

Prefix

she, he; 3rd person singular (m class(I)) subject concord
- Antonym: ha-

a- - Swazi

Prefix

a- (medial ka-)

he, she, it; class 1 subject concord, used in the subjunctive and potential mood.

Prefix

a- (medial wa-)

they; class 6 subject concord.

Prefix

of; class 6 possessive concord.

a- - Welsh

Pronunciation

IPA: /a/

Prefix

affirmative prefix, emphasises prefixed word
- ‎a- + ‎trist (“sad”) → ‎athrist (“very sad, sorrowful”)
- ‎a- + ‎traidd (“piercing, penetration”) → ‎athraidd (“permeable”)

Usage notes

Triggers aspirate mutation of the following consonant.

Derived terms

Welsh terms prefixed with a-

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	h-prothesis
a-	unchanged	unchanged	ha-
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

a- - Xhosa

Prefix

a- (medial wa-)

they; class 6 subject concord.

Prefix

of; class 6 possessive concord.

Prefix

Class 6 relative concord.

Prefix

Usage notes

Used in the indicative mood, prefixed to the subject concord.

a- - Zulu

Prefix

á- (medial ká-)

he, she, it; class 1 subject concord, used in the subjunctive and potential mood.

Prefix

á- (medial wá-)

they; class 6 subject concord.

Prefix

of; class 6 possessive concord.

Prefix

ā́-

Used to form relative clauses.

Usage notes

This prefix has conditioned allomorphs o- and e-.

Prefix

ā́-

Class 6 relative concord.

Prefix

Usage notes

Used in the indicative mood, prefixed to the subject concord.

Alternative forms

Prefix

Alternative form of ma- (hortative)