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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

a en · ADP · etymology 3

Pronunciation

  • /ə/

Etymology

* From Middle English a, o, from Old English a-, an, on. * Unstressed form of on.

Meanings

  1. To do with separation; In, into.
    • torn a pieces
  2. To do with time; Each, per, in, on, by. Often occurs between two nouns, where the first noun occurs at the end of a verbal phrase.
    • A Sundays c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]:
    • I brush my teeth twice a day.
    • Patent requests for machine learning activities grew on average by 28 percent a year between 2013 and 2016, the study found. 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2019:
  3. To do with status; In.
    • To set the people a worke. King James Bible (II Chronicles 2:18)
  4. (archaic) To do with position or direction; In, on, at, by, towards, onto.
    • stand a tiptoe
  5. (archaic) To do with process, with a passive verb; In the course of, experiencing.
    • The times, they are a-changin'. 1964, Bob Dylan, “The Times They Are a-Changin'”:
  6. (archaic) To do with an action, an active verb; Engaged in.
    • It was a doing. c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
    • Jacob, when he was a dying 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 11:21:
  7. (archaic) To do with an action/movement; To, into.
  8. (obsolete) To do with method; In, with.
    • Stands here a purpose. c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
  9. (obsolete) To do with role or capacity; In.
    • a God’s name

Relateds

on · a-

Translations (31)

da pr. (per; each (time unit)) · de am (per; each (time unit)) · ru по (per; each (time unit)) · hu -ként (per; each (time unit)) · de pro (per; each (time unit)) · ko 에 (per; each (time unit)) · it alla (per; each (time unit)) · es al (per; each (time unit)) · sh po (per; each (time unit)) · de das (per; each (time unit)) · it allo (per; each (time unit)) · fr par (per; each (time unit)) · pt o (per; each (time unit)) · ja に (per; each (time unit)) · da om (per; each (time unit)) · sh по (per; each (time unit)) · pt a (per; each (time unit)) · es a la (per; each (time unit)) · mk по (per; each (time unit)) · hu per (per; each (time unit)) · de den (per; each (time unit)) · de die (per; each (time unit)) · vi mỗi (per; each (time unit)) · ko 마다 (per; each (time unit)) · it al (per; each (time unit)) · it all' (per; each (time unit)) · ar فِي (per; each (time unit)) · pt por (per; each (time unit)) · cmn 每 (per; each (time unit)) · ja ごとに (per; each (time unit)) · ru в (per; each (time unit))

Source: en.wiktionary, “a” (prep), dump 20260902, contributors via the page history. Text licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
LemmaLanguagePart of speech
^enADP
~enSYM
==enCCONJ
enPUNCT
-'enPART
!enSYM
?enNOUN
?enADJ
·enSYM
'enPART
'enSYM
‘enSYM
‘ ’enPUNCT
’enPUNCT
“ ”enPUNCT
@ 3enCCONJ
@ 1enVERB
@ 1enNOUN
@ 1enADP
@ 2enSYM
@ 3enSYM
@$$enNOUN
$$$enNOUN
*enSYM
&enCCONJ
%enX
+enCCONJ
++enX
ɢenSYM
ɤenSYM
ɴenSYM
ɶenSYM
ʀenSYM
ʉenSYM
ʏenSYM
ʜenSYM
ʹenSYM
ᴀenSYM
ᴄenSYM
ᴋenSYM
ᴛenSYM
ᴢenSYM
ᵫenSYM
ᵺenSYM
‐enPUNCT
–enSYM
′enSYM
℞enSYM
∆enNOUN
◌̆enSYM

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