see|Appendix:Variations of "a"
English

Pronunciation
IPA|/�/ (sense 5 also in stressed form IPA|/ei/)

Etymology 1
OE. #Old English|�-, originally ar-. Cognate with German er-.

Prefix
a- no longer productive

1. forming verbs with the sense away, from, out, e.g. arise, await

Etymology 2
A proclitic form of a (preposition).

Prefix
a- no longer productive

1. in, on

Etymology 3
ME. variant form of y-, from OE. ge-|Ä¡e-.

Prefix
a- (not productive)

1. representing the Anglo-Saxon intensifying prefix, sometimes with little change in meaning, e.g. aware

#* w:The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)|The Twelve Days of Christmas:
#*: On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.
#*: Six geese a-laying

Etymology 4
AF. a-, from OF. e-, from L. ex-.

Prefix
a- no longer productive

1. forming words with the sense of wholly, out, e.g. abash

Etymology 5
From AGr. term|scpolytonic|�-|tra-|langgrc (term|scpolytonic|�ν-|tran-|langgrc immediately preceding a vowel).

Prefix
infl|en|prefix|cat=prefixes

1. Forming words denoting absence or lack, e.g. abyss, amoral, usually with stems beginning with consonants.

#* 1948 (revised 1952), Robert Graves, The White Goddess, Faber & Faber 1999, p. 7:
#*: When invited to believe in the Chimaera, the horse-centaurs, or the winged horse Pegasus, all of them straightforward Pelasgian cult-symbols, a philosopher felt bound to reject them as a-zoölogical improbabilities [...].

Related terms
an-

Croatian

Etymology
From AGr.|hr term|scpolytonic|�-|tra-|langgrc (term|scpolytonic|�ν-|tran-|langgrc immediately preceding a vowel).

Prefix
a-

1. Prefix prepended to words to denote a negation, deprivation or absence of a property denoted by base word.

#:* term|a-|langhr + term|socijalan|langhr → term|asocijalan|lang=hr
#:* term|a-|langhr + term|simetrija|langhr → term|asimetrija|lang=hr
#:* term|a-|langhr + brahija → term|abrahija|langhr

Category:Croatian prefixes|a

Old English

Etymology
From an earlier form ar-, from Germanic: cognate with German er-.

Pronunciation
IPA|/��/

Prefix
unicode|�-

1. forming words with the sense from, away, off, out, e.g. animan|�niman

Category:Old English affixes
Category:Words with alpha privatives

cs:a-
de:a-
et:a-
es:a-
fr:a-
it:a-
ku:a-
lt:a-
pt:a-
tr:a-
vo:a-

• 2007-12-29 19:29 - EncycloPetey - /* Prefix */ transferred quote from [[a]]

Full Revision History