a'

See also: Appendix:Variations of "a"

English

Etymology 1

Adverb

a' (not comparable)

1. Alternative spelling of a (“all”) [First attested from 1350 to 1470.]

Adjective

a' (not comparable)

1. Alternative spelling of a (“all”) [First attested from 1350 to 1470.]

Etymology 2

Preposition

a'

1. (archaic) Alternative form of a (“in”)
   • 1661, Samuel Tuke, "The Adventures of Five Hours", in 1876, Robert Dodsley, William Carew Hazlitt, A Select Collection of Old English Plays, page 217:

     SIL. What, a' God's name, could come into the heads

     Of this people to make them rebel?

     ERN. Why, religion; that came into their heads

     A' God's name.

     GER. But what a devil made the noblemen

     Rebel? they never mind religion.

Bambara

Pronoun

a'

1. you

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ə/

Particle

a’

1. (nonstandard) Contraction of an (used to form direct and indirect questions).
   • 1894 March, Peadar Mac Fionnlaoigh, “An rí nach robh le fagháil bháis”, in Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge, volume 1:5, Dublin: Gaelic Union, pages 185–88:

     Chonnaic sé cailín ag nigheachán i sruthán le cois an bhealaigh mhóir ⁊ chuir sé an tiománach síos ag fiafraighe di a’ bpósfadh sí é. […] Chuaidh an rí é féin síos annsin ⁊ d’fhiafraigh dhi a’ bpósfadh sí é.

     He saw a girl washing in a stream by the roadside, and he sent his driver down to ask her if she would marry him. […] The king himself then went down, and asked her would she marry him.

Italian

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a/^°
• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: a'

Contraction

a'

1. (Tuscan or literary) truncation of ai (“to the m pl”, contraction of a i)

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• a, ah, a-

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a/^*
• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: a'

Particle

a'

1. (regional, informal) uttered before a noun to call whoever it is referred to

   A' Gigi, viè qua!

   Gigi, come here!

   E che mi lasciate qua? A' 'nfami!

   Are you leaving me here? You bastards!

Derived terms

• ahó

Japanese

Romanization

a'

1. Rōmaji transcription of あっ

Scots

Alternative forms

• a, aw
• aa, aal (Shetland)

Etymology

From Middle English all, from Old English eall (“all, every, entire, whole, universal”), from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz (“all, whole, every”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“all”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑː/, /ɔː/
• (Northern Scots, Northern Isles) IPA^(key): /aː(l)/

Determiner

a'

1. all

Adverb

a'

1. all
   • 1852–1859, Lady John Scott (lyrics and music), “Annie Laurie”, in Scottish Songs‎^[1]:

     / Like dew on the gowan lying / Is the fa' o' her fairy feet; / And like winds in summer sighing, / Her voice is low and sweet— / Her voice is low and sweet, / And she's a' the world to me, / And for bonnie Annie Laurie / I'd lay me doon and dee.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Noun

a' (uncountable)

1. all
   • 1825, “Who’s at My Window”, in Allan Cunningham, compiler, The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern; […] In Four Volumes, volume III, London: Printed for John Taylor, […], →OCLC, page 334:

     There’s mirth in the barn and the ha’, the ha’, / There’s mirth in the barn and the ha’: / There's quaffing and laughing, / And dancing and daffing; / And our young bride’s daftest of a’, of a’, / And our young bride’s daftest of a’.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• an a'

References

• “a', adj.,adv.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
• Eagle, Andy, editor (2024), “a'”, in The Online Scots Dictionary‎^[2]

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Article

a'

1. inflection of an (“the”):
   1. dative or genitive singular masculine preceding g-, c-, b-, m- or p-
   2. nominative or dative singular feminine preceding g-, c-, b-, m-, p-

   Seall air a' corra-lod! ― Look at the mess!

Declension

Variation of a' (definite article)

	masculine			feminine			plural
	nom.	dat.	gen.	nom.	dat.	gen.	nom.	dat.	gen.
+ f-	am	anL		anL		na	na		nam
+ m-, p- or b-	am	a'L		a'L		na	na		nam
+ c- or g-	an	a'L		a'L		na	na		nan
+ sV-, sl-, sn- or sr-	an	anT		anT		na	na		nan
+ other consonant	an	an		an		na	na		nan
+ vowel	anT	an		an		naH	naH		nan

^L Triggers lenition; ^H Triggers H-prothesis; ^T Triggers T-prothesis

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Particle

a'

1. (before consonants) Apocopic form of ag

   Tha Seoc a' fuireach ann an Glaschu. - Jock lives in Glasgow.

   Dè tha thu a' leughadh? - What are you reading?

Usage notes

• In the Lewis dialect, ri is used instead.
• Scottish Gaelic has no simple present tense of regular verbs, so constructions with a', ag, or ri are used for both simple and progressive present tenses in English.

Tarantino

Etymology

Blend of a +‎ 'a

Preposition

a'

1. at the

Yagaria

Noun

a'

1. (Hua dialect) woman

References

• John Haiman, Hua, a Papuan Language of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea