# ā

| ā | U+0101, &#257; LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH MACRON |
| Composition: | a [U+0061] + ◌̄ [U+0304] |
| ← Ā [U+0100] | Latin Extended-A | Ă → [U+0102] |

## Translingual
### Symbol

ā
* (phonetics) A common convention for a long vowel a
* (international standards) transliterates Indic आ (or equivalent).

### See also

* (Latin script): Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Sſs Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
* (Variations of letter A): Áá Àà Ââ Ǎǎ Ăă Ãã Ảả Ȧȧ Ạạ Ää Åå Ḁḁ Āā Ąą ᶏ Ⱥⱥ Ȁȁ Ấấ Ầầ Ẫẫ Ẩẩ Ậậ Ắắ Ằằ Ẵẵ Ẳẳ Ặặ Ǻǻ Ǡǡ Ǟǟ Ȁȁ Ȃȃ Ɑɑ ᴀ Ɐɐ ɒ Ａａ Ææ Ǽǽ Ǣǣ Ꜳꜳ Ꜵꜵ Ꜷꜷ Ꜹꜹ Ꜻꜻ
* (Letters with macron or underline): Āā Ǟǟ Ḇḇ C̄c̄ Ḏḏ Ēē Ḕḕ Ḗḗ Ḡḡ ẖ Īī Ḹḹ Ḻḻ Ṉṉ Ōō Ȫȫ Ṑṑ Ṓṓ R̄r̄ Ṝṝ Ṟṟ Ṯṯ Ūū Ǘǘ Ǖǖ Ṻṻ Ȳȳ Ẕẕ Ǣǣ

## English
### Symbol

ā
* (lexicography) A dictionary transcription for the FACE vowel.

## Hawaiian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈaː/

### Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

#### Preposition

ā
* when, at the same time as
* until, to
* as far as

#### Conjunction

ā
* and
* so
* (rare) and then
* (rare) but

#### See also

* paha as a conjunction

### Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

#### Noun

ā
* jaw, cheekbone
* a surgical instrument made of smooth bone traditionally used to perform procedures including lancing and abortion

#### Verb

ā
* (intransitive) to talk a lot, chatter, jabber, blabber
* (intransitive) to be talkative, noisy

#### Derived terms

* hōʻā
* āʻōʻō

### Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

#### Noun

ā
* a mold used in souring foods such as poi

### References

* Pukui, Mary Kawena, Elbert, Samuel H. (1957) “ā”, in English–Hawaiian Dictionary. In Nā Puke Wehewehe ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi‎, 2003.

## Japanese
### Romanization

ā
* Rōmaji transcription of ああ

## Jersey Dutch
### Pronunciation

* (phoneme): IPA: /ɑ/

### Letter

ā
* A letter of the Jersey Dutch alphabet, written in the Latin script.

## Latvian
### Etymology

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [aː]
* This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

### Letter

ā (lower case, upper case Ā)
* The second letter of the Latvian alphabet, called garais ā and written in the Latin script.

#### Usage notes

Despite being an independent letter with its own position in the Latvian alphabet, Ā/ā, like all long vowels with macrons, is treated as a simple A/a in alphabetized lists (e.g., in dictionaries).

#### See also

* Letters of the Latvian alphabet:
    burti: Aa, Āā, Bb, Cc, Čč, Dd, Ee, Ēē, Ff, Gg, Ģģ, Hh, Ii, Īī, Jj, Kk, Ķķ, Ll, Ļļ, Mm, Nn, Ņņ, Oo, Pp, Rr, Ss, Šš, Tt, Uu, Ūū, Vv, Zz, Žž

## Livonian
### Pronunciation

* (phoneme) IPA: /ɑː/

### Letter

ā (upper case Ā)
* The second letter of the Livonian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

### See also

* (Latin-script letters) kēratēd̦; A a, Ā ā, Ä ä, Ǟ ǟ, B b, D d, D̦ d̦, E e, Ē ē, F f, G g, H h, I i, Ī ī, J j, K k, L l, Ļ ļ, M m, N n, Ņ ņ, O o, Ō ō, Ȯ ȯ, Ȱ ȱ, Õ õ, Ȭ ȭ, P p, R r, Ŗ ŗ, S s, Š š, T t, Ț ț, U u, Ū ū, V v, Z z, Ž ž

## Mandarin
### Alternative forms

* a — nonstandard

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Romanization

ā (a$^1$, Zhuyin ㄚ)
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 吖
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 呵
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 啊
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 嬶
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 腌
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 錒 / 锕
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 阿
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𠼞
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𥥩
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𨉚
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𫮄
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𮤴
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𮥀
* Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𰛄

## Maori
### Letter

ā (upper case Ā)
* The second letter of the Maori alphabet, written in the Latin script.

#### See also

* (Latin-script letters) A a, Ā ā, E e, Ē ē, H h, I i, Ī ī, K k, M m, N n, O o, Ō ō, P p, R r, T t, U u, Ū ū, W w, Ng ng, Wh wh

### Etymology 1

Likely cognate with Hawaiian ā (“jaw; cheekbone”).

#### Noun

ā
* collarbone

### Etymology 2

Likely cognate with Hawaiian ʻā (“to drive, to urge (such as cattle)”).

#### Verb

ā (passive āia or āngia)
* to drive something, such as cattle or other livestock
* to urge or compel something to move

### Etymology 3

Alternative form of āe.

#### Interjection

ā
* yeah, yes

## Ngam
### Verb

ā
* (auxiliary) Used to express the future tense
    Lòtī tā̰á̰ m-ā m-āw
       Tomorrow, I will leave

### References

Keegan, John (2014). The Eastern Sara Languages. Ceunca, Spain: Morkeg Books. p. 223.

## North Frisian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [aː]

### Letter

ā (lower case, upper case Ā)
* (Sylt) A letter of the North Frisian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

#### Usage notes

* Occurs chiefly, though not exclusively, before ⟨r⟩. The other dialects use ⟨aa⟩ for [aː].

### See also

* (North Frisian letters): a, ä, å, ā, b, c, d, đ, e, ē, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, ö, p, r, s, t, u, ü, v, w (q, x, y, z)

## Rarotongan
### Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *fa, from Proto-Oceanic *pat, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *pat, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *pat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat. Cognate with Indonesian empat.

### Numeral

ā
* four

## Samoan
### Pronoun

ā
* (interrogative) what
    ʻO le ā le mea lea?What is this thing?

## Slovene
### Etymology

Letter a with macron ◌̄ to signify presence of both pitches.

### Pronunciation

* (phoneme): IPA: /àː/, IPA: /áː/

### Symbol

ā
* (tonal SNPT) Phonetic transcription of sound [aː] when it can bear either pitch.

#### Usage notes

Symbol is sometimes used as a letter to denote pitch in a word, but that is mostly limited to foreign or specialized dictionaries.

### See also

* a
* á
* à
* ȃ
* ȁ

## Swedish
### Etymology

From the perceived ease and speed of writing a macron (¯) compared to an umlaut (¨).

### Pronunciation

* (phoneme) IPA: /ɛː/, /ɛ/

### Letter

ā (lower case, upper case Ā)
* (in handwriting) Alternative form of ä

### See also

* ō