Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
ISO basic
Latin alphabet
Aa Bb Cc Dd
Ee Ff Gg Hh
Ii Jj Kk Ll
Mm Nn Oo Pp
Qq Rr Ss Tt
Uu Vv Ww Xx
Writing cursive forms of A
Yy Zz
A (named /eɪ/, plural As, A's, as, a's or aes[nb 1]) is the
first letter and the first vowel of the ISO basic Latin alphabet.[1] It is v
similar to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it
t
derives.[2] The upper-case version consists of the two slanting
sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The e
lower-case version can be written in two forms: the double-
storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it,
especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type.
Contents
[hide]
1History
o 1.1Typographic variants
2Use in writing systems
o 2.1English
o 2.2Other languages
o 2.3Other systems
3Other uses
4Related characters
o 4.1Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet
o 4.2Derived signs, symbols and abbreviations
o 4.3Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets
5Computing codes
6Other representations
7Notes
8Footnotes
9References
10External links
History
Latin
Boeotia Gree
Phoenicia Etrusca Roman/Cyrilli 300
Egyptian Creta Semiti Greek n k
n n c AD
n c Alpha 800–700 Uncia
aleph A A Uncia
BC l
l
The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician
alphabet,[3] which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to
distinguish it from a true alphabet). In turn, the ancestor of aleph may have been a pictogram of an
ox head in proto-Sinaitic script[4] influenced by Egyptian hieroglyphs, styled as a triangular head with
two horns extended.
By 1600 BC, the Phoenician alphabet letter had a linear form that served as the base for some later
forms. Its name is thought to have corresponded closely to the Hebrew or Arabic aleph.
During Roman times, there were many variant forms of the letter "A". First was the monumental or
lapidary style, which was used when inscribing on stone or other "permanent" media. There was also
a cursive style used for everyday or utilitarian writing, which was done on more perishable surfaces.
Due to the "perishable" nature of these surfaces, there are not as many examples of this style as
there are of the monumental, but there are still many surviving examples of different types of cursive,
such as majuscule cursive, minuscule cursive, and semicursive minuscule. Variants also existed that
were intermediate between the monumental and cursive styles. The known variants include the
early semi-uncial, the uncial, and the later semi-uncial.[5]
At the end of the Roman Empire (5th century AD), several variants of the cursive minuscule
developed through Western Europe. Among these were the semicursive minuscule of Italy,
the Merovingian script in France, the Visigothic script in Spain, and the Insular or Anglo-Irish semi-
uncial or Anglo-Saxon majuscule of Great Britain. By the 9th century, the Caroline script, which was
very similar to the present-day form, was the principal form used in book-making, before the advent
of the printing press. This form was derived through a combining of prior forms.[5]
15th-century Italy saw the formation of the two main variants that are known today. These variants,
the Italic and Roman forms, were derived from the Caroline Script version. The Italic form, also
called script a, is used in most current handwriting and consists of a circle and vertical stroke. This
slowly developed from the fifth-century form resembling the Greek letter tau in the hands of medieval
Irish and English writers.[3] The Roman form is used in most printed material; it consists of a small
loop with an arc over it ("a").[5] Both derive from the majuscule (capital) form. In Greek handwriting, it
was common to join the left leg and horizontal stroke into a single loop, as demonstrated by the
uncial version shown. Many fonts then made the right leg vertical. In some of these, the serif that
began the right leg stroke developed into an arc, resulting in the printed form, while in others it was
dropped, resulting in the modern handwritten form.
Italic type is commonly used to mark emphasis or more generally to distinguish one part of a text
from the rest (set in Roman type). There are some other cases aside from italic type where script
a ("ɑ"), also called Latin alpha, is used in contrast with Latin "a" (such as in the International
Phonetic Alphabet).
Pronunciation of the name of the letter ⟨a⟩ in European languages, note that /a/ and /aː/ can differ phonetically
between [a], [ä], [æ] and [ɑ] depending on the language.
English
Further information: Pronunciation of English ⟨a⟩
In modern English orthography, the letter ⟨a⟩ represents at least seven different vowel sounds:
in the International Phonetic Alphabet, ⟨a⟩ is used for the open front
unrounded vowel, ⟨ä⟩ is used for the open central unrounded vowel,
and ⟨ɑ⟩ is used for the open back unrounded vowel.
in X-SAMPA, ⟨a⟩ is used for the open front unrounded vowel and
⟨A⟩ is used for the open back unrounded vowel.
Other uses
Main article: A (disambiguation)
In algebra, the letter a along with other letters at the beginning of the alphabet is used to represent
known quantities, whereas the letters at the end of the alphabet (x, y, z) are used to denote unknown
quantities.
In geometry, capital A, B, C etc. are used to denote segments, lines, rays, etc.[5] A capital A is also
typically used as one of the letters to represent an angle in a triangle, the lowercase a representing
the side opposite angle A.[4]
"A" is often used to denote something or someone of a better or more prestigious quality or status:
A-, A or A+, the best grade that can be assigned by teachers for students' schoolwork; "A grade" for
clean restaurants; A-list celebrities, etc. Such associations can have a motivating effect, as exposure
to the letter A has been found to improve performance, when compared with other letters.[9]
Finally, the letter A is used to denote size,[where?] as in a narrow size shoe,[4] or a small cup size in
a brassiere.[citation needed]
Related characters
Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet
Æ æ : Latin AE ligature
A with diacritics: Å å Ǻ ǻ Ḁ ḁ ẚ Ă ă Ặ ặ Ắ ắ Ằ ằ Ẳ ẳ Ẵ ẵ Ȃ ȃ Â â Ậ
ậ Ấ ấ Ầ ầ Ẫ ẫ Ẩ ẩ Ả ả Ǎ ǎ Ⱥ ⱥ Ȧ ȧ Ǡ ǡ Ạ ạ Ä ä Ǟ ǟ À à Ȁ ȁ Á á Ā ā Ā̀
ā̀ Ã ã Ą ą Ą́ ą́ Ą̃ ą̃ ᶏ[10]
ª : an ordinal indicator
Å : Ångström sign
∀ : a turned capital letter A, used in predicate logic to
specify universal quantification ("for all")
@ : At sign
₳ : Argentine austral
Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this
section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (December 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this
template message)
Computing codes
Character A a
UTF-8 65 41 97 61
ASCII 1 65 41 97 61
1
Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows,
ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.
Other representations
NATO phonetic Morse code
Alpha ·–
Footnotes
1. ^ Jump up to:a b Simpson & Weiner 1989, p. 1
2. Jump up^ McCarter 1974, p. 54
3. ^ Jump up to:a b c Hoiberg 2010, p. 1
4. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Hall-Quest 1997, p. 1
5. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Diringer 2000, p. 1
6. Jump up^ Gelb & Whiting 1998, p. 45
7. Jump up^ Anon 2004
8. Jump up^ Anon 2006
9. Jump up^ Ciani & Sheldon 2010, pp. 99–100
10. ^ Jump up to:a b c Constable, Peter (2004-04-19). "L2/04-132
Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS" (PDF).
11. Jump up^ Everson, Michael; et al. (2002-03-20). "L2/02-141:
Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS" (PDF).
12. Jump up^ Anderson, Deborah; Everson, Michael (2004-06-
07). "L2/04-191: Proposal to encode six Indo-Europeanist
phonetic characters in the UCS" (PDF).
13. Jump up^ Everson, Michael; Dicklberger, Alois; Pentzlin, Karl;
Wandl-Vogt, Eveline (2011-06-02). "L2/11-202: Revised proposal
to encode "Teuthonista" phonetic characters in the UCS"(PDF).
References
Anon (2004). "English Letter Frequency". Math Explorer's Club.
Cornell University. Archived from the original on 28 May 2014.
Retrieved 28 May 2014.
Anon (2006). "Percentages of Letter frequencies per Thousand
words". Trinity College. Archived from the original on 25
January 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
Ciani, Keith D.; Sheldon, Kennon M. (2010). "A versus F: The
effects of implicit letter priming on cognitive
performance". British Journal of Educational Psychology. 80 (1):
99–119. doi:10.1348/000709909X466479.
Diringer, David (2000). "A". In Bayer, Patricia. Encyclopedia
Americana. I: A-Anjou (First ed.). Danbury, CT: Grolier
Incorporated. ISBN 0-7172-0133-3.
Gelb, I. J.; Whiting, R. M. (1998). "A". In Ranson, K.
Anne. Academic American Encyclopedia. I: A–Ang (First ed.).
Danbury, CT: Grolier Incorporated. ISBN 0-7172-2068-0.
Hall-Quest, Olga Wilbourne (1997). "A". In Johnston,
Bernard. Collier's Encyclopedia. I: A to Ameland (First ed.).
New York, NY: P.F. Collier.
Hoiberg, Dale H., ed. (2010). "A". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1:
A-ak–Bayes. Chicago, IL: Encyclopædia Britannica,
Inc. ISBN 978-1-59339-837-8.
McCarter, P. Kyle (September 1974). "The Early Diffusion of the
Alphabet". The Biblical Archaeologist. 37 (3): 54–
68. doi:10.2307/3210965. JSTOR 3210965.
Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E.S.C., eds. (1989). "A". The Oxford
English Dictionary. I: A–Bazouki (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford
University Press. ISBN 0-19-861213-3.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to A.
Look up A or a in
Wiktionary, the free
dictionary.
[hide]
Latin script
History
Spread
Romanization
Roman numerals
phonetic alphabets
X-SAMPA
Spelling alphabet
Letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww
Letter A with diacritics
Áá Àà Ăă Ắắ Ằằ Ẵẵ Ẳẳ Ââ Ấấ Ầầ Ẫẫ Ẩẩ Ǎǎ Åå Ǻǻ Ää Ǟǟ Ãã Ȧȧ Ǡǡ Ąą Ą́ą́ Ą̃ ą
Ȁȁ Ȃȃ Ạạ Ặặ Ậậ Ḁḁ Ⱥⱥ ᶏ ẚ
ch
cz
dž
dz
gh
ij
Digraphs ll
ly
nh
ny
sh
sz
th
dzs
Trigraphs
eau
Tetragraphs ough
Pentagraphs tzsch
QWERTY
QWERTZ
AZERTY
SO/IEC 646
Unicode
Diacritics
Palaeography
Categories:
ISO basic Latin letters
Navigation menu
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Article
Talk
Read
View source
View history
Search
Go
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
Acèh
Afrikaans
Alemannisch
አአአአ
العربية
Aragonés
አአአአአ
Asturianu
Avañe'ẽ
Azərbaycanca
تۆرکجه
বাাংলা
Bân-lâm-gú
Basa Banyumasan
Башҡортса
Беларуская
Беларуская (тарашкевіца)
Български
Boarisch
Bosanski
Brezhoneg
Català
Чӑвашла
Čeština
ChiShona
ChiTumbuka
Corsu
Cymraeg
Dansk
Davvisámegiella
Deutsch
ަ ިދ ެވ ިހ
ްބސ
Eesti
Ελληνικά
Emiliàn e rumagnòl
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Føroyskt
Français
Frysk
Furlan
Gaeilge
Gaelg
Gàidhlig
Galego
贛語
ગુજરાતી
Хальмг
한국어
Հայերեն
Hrvatski
Ido
Igbo
Ilokano
Bahasa Indonesia
Interlingua
ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ/inuktitut
Íslenska
Italiano
עברית
Basa Jawa
ქართული
Kaszëbsczi
Kernowek
Kiswahili
Коми
Kreyòl ayisyen
Kurdî
Latina
Latviešu
Lëtzebuergesch
Lietuvių
Lumbaart
Magyar
Македонски
Malagasy
മലയാളം
मराठी
Bahasa Melayu
Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄
မြန်ြာဘာသာ
Nāhuatl
Na Vosa Vakaviti
Nederlands
日本語
Napulitano
Nordfriisk
Norsk
Norsk nynorsk
Nouormand
Occitan
Олык марий
Oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
Pangasinan
Polski
Português
Qırımtatarca
Română
Runa Simi
Русский
Sardu
Scots
Seeltersk
Sicilianu
Simple English
سنڌي
Slovenčina
Slovenščina
Ślůnski
کوردی
Sranantongo
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Basa Sunda
Suomi
Svenska
Tagalog
தமிழ்
Татарча/tatarça
తెలుగు
ไทย
Тоҷикӣ
Türkçe
Türkmençe
Українська
اردو
Vèneto
Vepsän kel’
Tiếng Việt
Volapük
Walon
Winaray
ייִדיש
Yorùbá
粵語
Zazaki
Žemaitėška
中文
Edit links
This page was last edited on 13 December 2017, at 09:15.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;
additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of
Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews