A

A
A a
Usage
Writing system	Latin script
Type	Alphabetic
Language of origin	Latin language
Phonetic usage	[a] [ɑ] [ɒ] [æ] [ə] [ɛ] [oː] [ɔ] [e] [ʕ] [ʌ] [ɐ] /eɪ/
Unicode codepoint	U+0041, U+0061
Alphabetical position	1
History
Development	Α α 𐌀 A a
Time period	c. 700 BCE – present
Descendants	Æ Ä Â Ɑ Ʌ Ɐ ª Å ₳ @ Ⓐ ⓐ ⒜ 🅰
Sisters	𐌰 А Я Ә Ӑ א ا ܐ ࠀ 𐎀 ℵ አ ء Ա ա અ अ অ
Other
Other letters commonly used with	a(x), ae, eau, au
Writing direction	Left-to-right
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

ISO basic Latin alphabet
AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz
v t e

A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet,^[1][2] used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is a (pronounced /ˈeɪ/ AY), plural aes.^{[nb 1][2]}

It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives.^[3] The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version is often written in one of 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.

In English, a is the indefinite article, with the alternative form an.

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