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	The letter has two ] (lower-case) forms. The form used in most current handwriting consists of a circle and vertical stroke ({{Unicode\|ɑ}}). Most printed material uses a form consisting of a small loop with an arc over it ({{IPA\|a}}). 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 ] 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.		The letter has two ] (lower-case) forms. The form used in most current handwriting consists of a circle and vertical stroke ({{Unicode\|ɑ}}). Most printed material uses a form consisting of a small loop with an arc over it ({{IPA\|a}}). 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.

	==Usage==
	In ], the letter "A" by itself usually denotes the ] ({{IPA\|/æ/}}) as in ''pad'', the ] ({{IPA\|/ɑː/}}) as in ''father'', or, in concert with a later orthographic vowel, the diphthong {{IPA\|/eɪ/}} (though the pronunciation varies with the dialect) as in ''ace'' and ''major'', due to effects of the ].

	In most other languages that use the Latin alphabet, the letter A denotes either an ] ({{IPA\|/ɑ/}}), or an ] ({{IPA\|/a/}}). In the ], variants of the letter A denote various ]s. In ], capital A denotes the ] and lowercase a denotes the ].

	''A'' is the third-most common letter in English, and the second-most common in ] and ]. On average, about 3.6% of letters in English tend to be ''as,'' while the number is 6.2% in Spanish and 4% in French.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://starbase.trincoll.edu/~crypto/resources/LetFreq.html\|title=Percentages of Letter frequencies per Thousand words\|accessdate=2006-05-01}}</ref>

	''A'' also is the English ], extended to ''an'' before a vowel. See ].

	''A-'' also is a ] that serves to negate the ] to which it is attached, such as ''a''moral, ''a''political, etc.

	==Codes for computing==
	{{Letter
	\|NATO=Alfa
	\|Morse=·–
	\|Character=A1
	\|Braille=⠁
	}}
	In ] the ] A is codepoint U+0041 and the ] a is U+0061.

	In ], A is the character used to represent decimal 10, or in ], 01010

	The ] code for capital A is 65 and for lowercase a is 97; or in ] 01000001 and 01100001, correspondingly.

	The ] code for capital A is 193 and for lowercase a is 129.

	The ]s in ] and ] are "<tt>&#65;</tt>" and "<tt>&#97;</tt>" for upper and lower case respectively.

	==Meanings for A==
	] ], ]]]
	* In ] ]
	** the ] are often simply referred to as the "'''A's'''."
	** '''A''' can stand for ] or ]
	* In ],
	** A stands for a whitish-blue ] in the Morgan-Keenan system
	** A stands for a January 1 through 15 discovery, in the provisional designation of a comet (for example, ], the Great Comet of 1760) or asteroid (for example, {{mpl\|(4099) 1988 AB\|5}})
	** ''a'' is often used to denote the ] of an orbit
	* In ], A is the symbol for ] and ].
	* Brassiere ] '''A'''
	* In ]s, A is often an abbreviation for the ]s April and ].
	* In ],
	** <tt><a></tt> is the ].
	** In the Mac OS, Command-A (for All), and in Windows, Ctrl-A, and selects all the text in the document, or all the pixels of an image.
	** A sometimes represents the set of all alphabetic characters within ] patterns.
	** A: is the conventional address of the first floppy disk drive in ]-based ]s such as ].
	** A is a security division ("Verified Protection") in the ].
	* In ], a ] of '''A''' typically represents the highest score that students can achieve. This is sometimes coupled with a ]/] sign, as in '''A+''' or '''A-''', or a number, as in '''A1'''. It is occasionally a grade one level below '''A*''' (pronounced "A Star").
	* In ],
	** ] is a standard size of ].
	** A refers to the Anode, or filament, component of a ].
	* In ], the word ''a'' is an ], see ]
	* In ], -a is the adjectival/attributive ending; A is commonly an abbreviation meaning English (language).
	* In ], the letter worn by Hester Prynne marking her as an adulteress in the ] novel '']'' was an ''A''.
	* In ], '']'' is an Italian film made in 1969.
	* In ], A is the U.S. ] for ].
	* In ]s, the letter A is used to mark each of the ]s in a deck of ]s.
	* In ] it stands for ''annum'' (Latin for "year") and is usually used with ''Mega (Ma)'' and ''Giga (Ga)'' to indicate very long periods of time; see ].
	* In ], a- is a ] (''alpha privativum'') meaning "not" or "devoid of," used in many borrowed words in ], ] and ] (for example, amoral, asexual, arhythmic).
	* In ], A is symbolic of the ] ] and is used to represent the continent Asia.
	* In ] ''A'' is a movie rating, given to those intended to be seen only by adults.
	* In ], A stands for ].
	* In ], A is a series of sizes with an ] of roughly 70% width to height, with A4 being an example popular size.
	* In ],
	**the letter A is used as a symbol for the universal affirmative proposition in the general form "all x is y." The letters I, E, and O are used respectively for the particular affirmative "some x is y," the universal negative "no x is y," and the particular negative "some x is not y." The use of these letters is generally derived from the vowels of the two ] ]s ''affirmo'' (or AIo), "I assert," and ''nego'', "I deny." The use of the symbols dates from the thirteenth century, though some authorities trace their origin to the Greek logicians.
	**In ], the symbol ∀ (an inverted letter A) is the ].
	* In ],
	**A stands for area of geometric figures.
	**A is often used as a ] meaning '']'' in ] and other positional ]s with a ] of 11 or greater,
	**] <math>\mathbb{A}</math> (�dd38 in ]) sometimes represents the ].
	**In the ], each sequence has an ID consisting of the letter A and six base 10 digits.
	* In ], '''A''' (also, '''A+''' or '''A-''') is one of the human ]s.
	* In ],
	** ] is a ] or ].
	** A, or "side A," refers to the top or first side of a ].
	** ] is a ] band.
	** '']'' is an album by ].
	** '']'' is an album by ].
	* In ], ] is a ].
	* In ], most SLR cameras use A to signify aperture priority mode, where the user sets the aperture and the camera determines the shutter speed.
	* In ]: A can stand for:
	** The ] of an ].
	** The derived property of ] (upper-case A for an initial/constant accleration value; lower case a for an instantaneous acceleration variable.)
	* In ], ] is the major work of influential twentieth century author ].
	* In ], a circumscribed "A" is an ].
	* As the first letter of a ],
	** In ], A stands for ].
	* In ],
	** the NATO ] ranges below 0.25 GHz.
	* On the serial numbers of ]s, A identifies the ].
	* In the ] system of units,
	** A is the symbol for the ] or amp, the ] of ].
	** a, ], is the ] meaning 10<sup>-18</sup>
	** a is the symbol for one ], from the Latin ''annum''
	** a is also the deprecated symbol for the ], a unit of surface area equal to 100 ]s.
	* In ], '''A''' means ''to'' or ''towards''.
	* In some ], '''A''' is an abbreviation for Assists.
	** '''A''' is also a term used to signify the standard of grade a certain team is in comparison to another team of the same age. e.g. John is in the A team for soccer.
	* In ], alpha is a metaphor for the beginning/creation of time and matter. It is sometimes translated to A.
	* As a ], A is the military designation for ]+1, also known as CET or ].
	* ], A is used to describe an object shaped like the capital letter A, such as an ].

	==References==
	<references />

	==See also==
	{{Wikisource1911Enc\|A}}
	{{Commons\|A}}
	* ]
	* ]
	* <big>]</big>
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
	* ] (Ae)
	* ] (Aa)
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
	<br clear="all" />

	{{AZsubnav}}
	{{Latin letters}}

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Revision as of 17:04, 23 October 2006

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 Yy Zz
v t e

For the indefinite article, see A, an

A# will redirect here due to technical limitations. See A Sharp for it.

For the band, see A (band)

For rating system of CBFC, see A (Rating).

The letter A is the first letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is a (IPA /eɪ/).

History

The letter A began as a pictogram of an ox head in Egyptian hieroglyphs or the Proto-semitic alphabet.

Egyptian hieroglyph ox head	Proto-Semitic ox head	Phoenician aleph	Greek Alpha	Etruscan A	Roman A

By 1600 BC, the Phoenician alphabet's letter had a linear form that served as the basis for some later forms. Its name must have corresponded closely to the Hebrew aleph. The name is also similar to the Arabic alif.

When the Ancient Greeks adopted the alphabet, they had no use for the glottal stop that the letter had denoted in Phoenician and other Semitic languages, so they used the sign for the vowel /a/, and changed its name to alpha. In the earliest Greek inscriptions, dating to the 8th century BC, the letter rests upon its side, but in the Greek alphabet of later times it generally resembles the modern capital letter, although many local varieties can be distinguished by the shortening of one leg, or by the angle at which the cross line is set.

The Etruscans brought the Greek alphabet to what was Italy and left the letter unchanged. The Romans later adopted the Etruscan alphabet to write Latin, and the resulting letter was preserved in the modern Latin alphabet used to write many languages, including English.

Blackletter A	Uncial A	Another Capital A
Modern Roman A	Modern Italic A	Modern Script A

The letter has two minuscule (lower-case) forms. The form used in most current handwriting consists of a circle and vertical stroke (ɑ). Most printed material uses a form consisting of a small loop with an arc over it (a). 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.