a

A1 Topic:Grammar & Function Words

US /eɪ/ UK /eɪ̯/ See IPA manual

Homophones

eh /eɪ/ ey /eɪ/

Freq #5

Studied by 6 learners

Meanings

1

det
used before a noun to refer to one person or thing that is not specific or not already known

I bought a book at the store.
2

noun
the first letter of the English alphabet

The word "apple" begins with an A.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

an one

Opposites

every the

Word family

Derived forms a-gamea-listaaaaacouldashouldawoulda

Related forms a-an on

Appears in

Phrases (592)

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a good reason
a strong, acceptable justification for something

Adjective + noun
a long walk
a walking journey that covers a great distance or takes considerable time

Adjective + noun
a short walk
a walking distance that takes only a few minutes

Adjective + noun
a small town
a town with a relatively low population and limited amenities

Adjective + noun
a young lady
a girl or young woman, often used as a polite or formal form of address

Adjective + noun
answer a question
to provide a response to a question

Verb + noun

Idioms (122)

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a piece of cake
Something that is very easy to do.
hang on a minute
used to ask someone to wait, or to express surprise or objection
have a sweet tooth
To have a strong liking for sugary food.
a blessing in disguise
Something that seems bad at first but turns out to have a good outcome.
a fair share
a reasonable portion or a substantial amount of something, especially work or difficulties
a fish out of water
Someone who feels uncomfortable because they are in an unfamiliar situation.

Tongue twisters (13)

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A Glowing Gleam
A glowing gleam glowing green.

Switch between /ɡl/ in glowing and gleam and /ɡɹ/ in green. Keep each cluster together without an extra vowel after /ɡ/.
A Lovely Lily
A lovely lily lying all alone along the lane.

Move smoothly between the repeated /l/ sounds and the changing vowels. Keep lily and lying separate; their second syllables differ.
A Noisy Oyster
What noise annoys a noisy oyster most? A noisy noise annoys a noisy oyster most.

Keep the two parts of /ɔɪ/ connected in noise, annoys and oyster. Notice that noise and annoys end with voiced /z/, while most begins wit...
A Tutor Who Tooted
A tutor, who tooted a flute, tried to tutor two tooters to toot. Said the two to the tutor: “Is it harder to toot, or tutor two tooters to toot?”

Keep toot, tooted and tooters distinct while maintaining the long vowel. Tutor varies by accent, so it need not begin exactly like toot.
Betty Botter
Betty Botter bought some butter. “But,” she said, “this butter’s bitter; If I put it in my batter, It will make my batter bitter; But a bit of better butter Will but make my batter better.” So she bought a bit of butter Better than the bitter butter, And made her bitter batter better. So it was better Betty Botter Bought a bit of better butter.

Compare the vowels in bit, better, batter and butter while keeping /b/ steady. Use your normal accent for the middle consonant of Betty, ...
Billy Button
Billy Button bought a buttered biscuit. Did Billy Button buy a buttered biscuit? If Billy Button bought a buttered biscuit, Where's the buttered biscuit Billy Button bought?

Keep the repeated /b/ clear without adding a vowel before it. Bought and buy change between lines, so follow the wording as well as the r...

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís? Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos Proto-Germanic *ainaz Proto-West Germanic *ain Old English ān Middle English an Middle English a English a 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 Middle English an Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Grammar & Function Words

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# a

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** det, noun
**IPA (US):** /eɪ/
**IPA (UK):** /eɪ̯/
**Frequency rank:** 5

## Meanings
1. used before a noun to refer to one person or thing that is not specific or not already known
2. the first letter of the English alphabet

## Examples
- I bought a book at the store.
- The word "apple" begins with an A.

## Synonyms
- an
- one

## Antonyms
- every
- the

## Derived Forms
- a-game
- a-list
- aa
- aaa
- coulda
- shoulda
- woulda

## Related Forms
- a-
- an
- on

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: a
- Root: an

## Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís? Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos Proto-Germanic *ainaz Proto-West Germanic *ain Old English ān Middle English an Middle English a English a 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”).

## AI Etymology
A comes from Middle English a, an, from Old English ān (“one; a; lone; sole”). Compare 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”). The historical chain runs from Proto-Indo-European *ís? through Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos, Proto-Germanic *ainaz, Proto-West Germanic *ain, Old English ān, Middle English an, and Middle English a to English a.

## Topics
- Grammar & Function Words

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a

Meanings

Thesaurus

Appears in

Phrases (592)

Idioms (122)

Tongue twisters (13)

Etymology

Topics

External links

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