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阿

Mandarin · pinyin ā#

prefix used before monosyllabic names, kinship terms etc to indicate familiarity
(bound form) abbreviation for country names beginning with 阿, e.g. 阿富汗 Ā fù hàn "Afghanistan"

Mandarin · pinyin ē#

(literary) to flatter; to curry favor with

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阿: ā · prefix for people's names; used in transliteration

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1 · a1

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 17 senses · 4 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

aa2 · aa3 · aak3 · o1

Cantonese word readings for 阿. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character · Etymology 1

Prefix used in terms of address (kinship terms, surnames, given names), usually to express familiarity or friendliness (traditionally used in rural or southern Chinese dialects).
(alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 啊 (ā, á, ǎ, à, a, particle)
Used in transcription.
(abbreviation, alt-of) Used in transcription. — short for 阿富汗 (Āfùhàn, “Afghanistan”)
(abbreviation, alt-of) Used in transcription. — short for 阿爾巴尼亞／阿尔巴尼亚 (Ā'ěrbāníyà, “Albania”)
(abbreviation, alt-of) Used in transcription. — short for 阿拉伯 (Ālābó, “Arabic”)
atto- (SI unit prefix)

character · Etymology 3

big mound; mountain
hillside
fine silks
(literary, of a mountain or stream) bend; corner
waterside
nearby; near
to flatter; to pander to
to be unfairly partial to
(alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 屙 (ē, “to excrete”)
a surname

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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