A (kana) explained

Hiragana Image:Japanese Hiragana kyokashotai A.svg
Katakana Image:Japanese Katakana kyokashotai A.svg
Transliteration:a
Hiragana Manyogana:
Katakana Manyogana:
Other Manyogana:阿 安 英 足 鞅
Spelling:朝日のア
(Asahi no "a")

A (hiragana: あ, katakana: ア) is a Japanese kana that represents the mora consisting of single vowel pronounced as /[a]/. The hiragana character あ is based on the sōsho style of kanji Japanese: , while the katakana ア is from the radical of kanji Japanese: . In the modern Japanese system of alphabetical order, it occupies the first position of the alphabet, before . Additionally, it is the 36th letter in Iroha, after て, before さ. The Unicode for あ is U+3042, and the Unicode for ア is U+30A2.

FormRōmajiHiraganaKatakana
Normal a/i/u/e/o
(Japanese: あ行 a-gyō)
a
aa
ā
ああ, あぁ
あー
アア, アァ
アー

Derivation

The katakana ア derives, via man'yōgana, from the left element of kanji Japanese: [[wiktionary:阿|阿]]. The hiragana あ derives from cursive simplification of the kanji Japanese: [[wiktionary:安|安]].

Variant forms

Scaled-down versions of the kana (ぁ, ァ) are used to express sounds foreign to the Japanese language, such as ファ (fa). In some Okinawan writing systems, a small ぁ is also combined with the kana く (ku) and ふ (fu or hu) to form the digraphs くぁ kwa and ふぁ hwa, although others use a small ゎ instead. In hentaigana, a variant of あ is appeared with a stroke written exactly as wakanmuri. The version of the kana with dakuten (あ゙, ア゙) are used to represent either a gurgling sound, a voiced pharyngeal fricative (pronounced as /link/), or other similarly articulated sound.

Stroke order

The Hiragana あ is made with three strokes:[1]

  1. At the top, a horizontal stroke from left to right.
  2. A downward vertical stroke starting above and in the center of the last stroke.
  3. At the bottom, a loop like the Hiragana .

The Katakana ア is made with two strokes:[2]

  1. At the top, a stroke consisting of a horizontal line and a short horizontal line proceeding downward and to the left.
  2. Starting at the end of the last stroke, a curved line proceeding downward and to the left.

Other communicative representations

When lengthening "-a" morae in Japanese braille, a chōon is always used, as in standard katakana usage instead of adding an あ / ア.

References

Notes and References

  1. Gilhooly (2003) p. 62
  2. Gilhooly (2003) p. 128