阿 - Dong Chinese dictionary

ā, a, ē

name prefix

Original meaning:

hillside

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 可 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "hillside". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

阝 Meaning component

fù

hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

阝 hints at the original meaning of 阿, "hillside", which is no longer the most common meaning of 阿 in modern Mandarin.

可 Sound component

kě, kè

able to

阿 and 可 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.阿 /*qˤa[j]/, /*ʔˤa (< *qˤaj)/
可 /*[k]ʰˤa[j]ʔ/

Evolution

Bronze script

Warring States (475-221 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

阿

prefix for people's names; used in transliteration; prefix used before monosyllabic names, kinship terms etc to indicate familiarity; also pr. [à]

阿

abbr. for Afghanistan 阿富汗[Afùhàn]

阿

flatter

Most common words with 阿

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	阿	also pr. [à]
	阿姨	maternal aunt
	迈阿密	Miami (Florida)
	阿富汗	Afghanistan
	阿根廷	Argentina

Component uses

Sound component in 6 characters (1 verified)

啊婀錒锕屙痾

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese	Middle Chinese	Pinyin	Gloss
*qˤa[j]	'a	ē	slope, river bank
ʔˤa (< qˤaj)	'a	ē	阿會亘 ēhuìxuān: Skt. ābhāsvara “shining” (E. Hàn)