阿
Meanings · aa2
- an interjection
- exclamation
Meanings · aa3
- prefix used before monosyllabic names, kinship terms etc to indicate familiarity
- used in transliteration
- also pr. à
Meanings · ngaa3
- prefix used before monosyllabic names, kinship terms etc to indicate familiarity
- used in transliteration
- also pr. à
Meanings · aak3
- literary auxiliary particle, comes at the beginning of a sentence
Meanings · o1
- to curry favour with
- to flatter
- to pander to
Meanings · ngo1
- to curry favour with
- to flatter
- to pander to
About these definitions
Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.
Reading & tones
Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.
Tone difference from Unihan
- 阿 is read aa2 here; Unihan’s citation reading is aa3. Same syllable, different tone across these source readings. CC-Canto also lists 阿 aa2 as its own entry.
Computed by zimai: each syllable of the CC-Canto word reading is compared with Unihan 17.0.0 kCantonese for its character. The comparison does not say why a reading differs (a changed tone, 變音, a reading tied to one meaning, or a source variant).
Same syllable, six tones
Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.
Written characters
Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.
Mandarin comparison · separate source entries
CC-CEDICT, the Mandarin–English dictionary, lists the same written form:
- 阿 ā CC-CEDICT · Mandarinprefix 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"
- 阿 ē CC-CEDICT · Mandarin(literary) to flatter; to curry favor with
A separate source entry, shown for comparison. The same characters can carry different senses in Mandarin and in Cantonese; zimai does not align these senses.
CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: a1. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.
Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗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.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
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
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack