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AI In plain words

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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

a-¹

  • /ə/

Where it comes from

From Middle English a- (“up, out, away”), from Old English ā-, originally *ar-, *or-, from Proto-West Germanic *uʀ-, from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out-”), from Proto-Indo-European *uds- (“up, out”). Cognate with Old Saxon a-, German er-.

prefix

  1. idiomatic, morpheme Forming verbs with the sense away, up, on, out. arise, await
  2. idiomatic, morpheme Forming verbs with the sense of intensified action. abide, amaze

a-²

  • /ə/

Where it comes from

From Middle English a- (“on”), derived from unstressed Middle English an (“on”), from Old English an (“on”). See a (preposition, on, to, in, etc.)

prefix

  1. idiomatic, morpheme, rare In, on, at; used to show a state, condition, or manner. Also passing into sense 2. aglow, apace, afire, aboil, a-bling, abluster
  2. idiomatic, morpheme In, into. Also passing into sense 5. asunder
  3. morpheme In the direction of, or toward. astern, abeam
  4. archaic, dialectal, morpheme At such a time. Come a-morning we are going hunting.
  5. archaic, dialectal, morpheme In the act or process of. Used in some dialects before a present participle. hits a-poppin

a-³

  • /ə/

Where it comes from

From Middle English a-, a variant form of y-, from Old English ġe-, from Proto-West Germanic *ga-, from Proto-Germanic *ga-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“with”).

prefix i-

  1. alternative, archaic, dialectal, morpheme Alternative form of y-. In dialect, it is sometimes conflated with sense 5 of the previous definition, and is used as a general indicator of a participle. aware, alike
  2. Devon, morpheme Used to form the past participle of a verb. I have a-gone.

a-⁴

  • /ə/

Where it comes from

From Anglo-Norman a-, from Old French e-, from Latin ex-.

prefix

  1. idiomatic, morpheme Forming words with the sense of wholly, or utterly out. abash

a-⁵

  • /eɪ/ Canada, US, UK
  • /æɪ/ Australia, New Zealand
  • /ə/ Philippines
  • /a/ Philippines

Where it comes from

From Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-), preconsonantal form of ἀν- (an-). Distant doublet of un-.

prefix

  1. morpheme Not, without, opposite of. amoral, asymmetry, atheism, asexual, acyclic, atypical

    Similar: an-, dys-, i-, il-, im-, in-, ir-, mal-, non-, un-

a-⁶

Where it comes from

Assimilated form of ad- before b, sc, sp, st, and sometimes m. From Middle English a-, from Middle French a-, from Latin ad (“towards”).

prefix

  1. idiomatic, morpheme Towards; Used to indicate direction, reduction to, increase to, change into, or motion. ascend, aspire, amass, abandon, avenue

a-⁷

Where it comes from

From Latin ab (“of, off, from, away”).

prefix

  1. idiomatic, morpheme Away from. avert, aperient, abridge, assoil, assoilzie

a-⁸

Where it comes from

From Middle English a-, o- (“of”). See a (preposition, of).

prefix

  1. idiomatic, morpheme Of, from. anew, afresh, athirst

a-⁹

prefix

  1. alternative, morpheme Alternative form of -a (“empty syllable added to songs, poetry, verse and other speech”). A-tisket a-tasket, A green and yellow basket

a-10

prefix

  1. morpheme Used as a prefix to verbs in the sense of remaining in the same condition. Actively doing something. a-be, a-going

Translations

Every language

prefix not, without, opposite of

Española-, an-
Portuguêsa-
Françaisa-
Deutscha-
Italianoa-

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Cite this
MLA

"a-." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/a-. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

a-. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/a-

Chicago

"a-." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/a-.

BibTeX
@misc{a_2026,
  title = {a-},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/a-},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}