阿 (ā): abbr. for country names that begin with 阿: Algeria 阿爾及利亞|阿尔及利亚, Afghanistan 阿富汗 etc, prefix used before monosyllabic names, kinship terms etc to indicate familiarity, used in transliteration
阿 (ā) is a Chinese character meaning “used in transliteration.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 阝 (semantic) and 可 (phonetic). It ranks #471 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 阿 place. Its radical form 阝 (mound) appears in many related characters such as 那 (nà, (specifier) that), 都 (dōu, all), 院 (yuàn, courtyard).
Definitions
- abbr. for country names that begin with 阿: Algeria 阿爾及利亞|阿尔及利亚, Afghanistan 阿富汗 etc
- prefix used before monosyllabic names, kinship terms etc to indicate familiarity
- used in transliteration
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 阿 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 阿
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 迈阿密proper-noun | mài ā mì | Miami (Florida) |
| 阿门interjection | ā mén | (loanword) amen |
| 阿曼proper-noun | ā màn | Oman |
| 阿富汗proper-noun | ā fù hàn | Afghanistan |
| 阿拉伯proper-noun | ā lā bó | Arabian |
| 阿拉pronoun | ā lā | (Wu dialect) I |
| 阿根廷proper-noun | ā gēn tíng | Argentina |
| 阿拉斯加 | ā lā sī jiā | Alaska, US state |
| 阿里adverb | ā lǐ | (name) Ali |
| 阿司匹林noun | ā sī pǐ lín | (loanword) aspirin |
| 阿萨德proper-noun | ā sà dé | Assad (Arabic name) |
| 阿波罗proper-noun | ā bō luó | Apollo (loanword) |
| 阿诺德 | ā nuò dé | (name) Arnold |
| 阿尔法noun | ā ěr fǎ | alpha (Greek letter Α, α) |
| 阿飞noun | ā fēi | hoodlum |
阿 appears in 107 compound words: 93 as the first character, 6 as the last, and 2 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 阿 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (42)
a transliteration of the Arabic male given name عَبْد اللّٰه (ʕabd allāh), Abd Allah
Alternative name for 阿德萊德／阿德莱德 (Ādéláidé).: Adelaide (the state capital and largest city in South Australia, Australia)
a transliteration of the Arabic male given name عَبْد اللّٰه (ʕabd allāh), Abd Allah
Showing 12 of 42 idioms containing 阿.
Example Sentences
我在字典里查到了阿字的详细解释。
wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le ā zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .
I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "阿" in the dictionary.
阿曼证实美伊2/26日内瓦再谈 传德黑兰愿...
ā 曼 zhèng shí měi yī 2 2 6 rì nèi wǎ zài tán chuán dé hēi lán yuàn . . .
Oman confirmed that the United States and Iran will talk again in Geneva on 2/26 to convey Tehran's wishes...
阿曼:美伊26日再次瑞士谈判 伊朗外长:核...
ā 曼 : měi yī 2 6 rì zài cì ruì shì tán pàn yī lǎng wài cháng : hé . . .
Oman: The United States and Iran negotiated again in Switzerland on the 26th Iranian Foreign Minister: Nuclear...
88%的阿拉伯民众反对承认以色列政权
8 8 de ā lā bó mín zhòng fǎn duì chéng rèn yǐ sè liè zhèng quán
88% of the Arab population opposes the recognition of the Israeli regime
沙特阿拉伯前官员:任何对伊朗的军事打击都将是一...
shā tè ā lā bó qián guān yuán : rèn hé duì yī lǎng de jūn shì dǎ jī dōu jiāng shì yī . . .
Former Saudi Arabian official: Any military strike on Iran will be a...
茶香氤氲,温情暖暖~看阿婆爷叔如何解锁“行云流水”..
chá xiāng 氤 氲 , wēn qíng nuǎn nuǎn kàn ā pó yé shū rú hé jiě suǒ háng yún liú shuǐ . .
The tea is fragrant, warm and warm~ See how grandma and uncle unlock "flowing water":
总统目前在迈阿密。
Zǒngtǒng mùqián zài Mài'āmì.
The president is presently in Miami.
阿尔巴尼亚想加入欧盟。
ā'ěrbāníyà xiǎng jiārù ōuméng.
Albania wants to join the European Union.
阿尔法、贝塔和咖玛是希腊文字。
ā'ěrfǎ, bèitǎ hé gāmǎ shì Xīlà wénzì.
Alpha, beta and gamma are Greek letters.
是阿里斯特杀了芭芭拉。
Shì ālǐsītè shā le Bābālā.
It was Alister who killed Barbara.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 阝 (place) component
Homophones — Characters pronounced ā
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 阿 (ā) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 阿 and 终?
How many strokes does 阿 have?
What is the radical of 阿?
What are the components of 阿?
What are common words containing 阿?
What characters sound the same as 阿 (ā)?
Is 阿 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 阿 with real-time feedback
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