Japanese

Stroke order

Syllable

あ ‎(romaji a)

1. The hiragana syllable あ ‎(a). Its equivalent in katakana is ア ‎(a). It is the first syllable in the gojūon order; its position is あ行あ段 ‎(a-gyō a-dan, “row a, section a”).

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

The short form of 我 ‎(are).

Alternative forms

• 吾

Pronoun

あ ‎(romaji a)

1. 我: (archaic) first-person personal pronoun; I, me
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 14, poem 3456)

     宇都世美能 夜蘇許登乃敝波 思気久等母 安良蘇比可祢弖 安乎許登奈須那

   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 14, poem 3457)

     宇知日佐須 美夜能和我世波 夜麻登女乃 比射麻久其登尓 安乎和須良須奈

   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 14, poem 3458)

     奈勢能古夜 等里乃乎加恥志 奈可太乎礼 安乎祢思奈久与 伊久豆君麻弖尓

   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 14, poem 3471)

     思麻良久波 祢都追母安良牟乎 伊米能未尓 母登奈見要都追 安乎祢思奈久流

   • c. 1001–1014, Genji Monogatari (Yūgao)

     あが君、生き出で給へ。いと、いみじき目な見せ給ひそ

Derived terms

• 我 (あれ) ‎(are)

Etymology 3

Kanji reading

あ ‎(romaji a)

• 亜: secondary
• 阿:
• 唖:
• 痾:
• 鴉:

References

• Satake, Akihiro; Hideo Yamada; Rikio Kudō; Masao Ōtani; Yoshiyuki Yamazaki (c. 759) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 3: Man’yōshū 3 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, ISBN 978-4-00-240003-7, published 2002.
• Yamagishi, Tokuhei (1958) Koten Bungaku Taikei 14: Genji Monogatari 1 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, ISBN 4-0006-0014-1