-a

See also: -à, -á, -â, -ä, -ã, -ă, -ǎ, -а, and Appendix:Variations of "a"

Languages (59)

Translingual • English

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

From Latin -a.

Suffix

-a

1. Used to create genus names from proper nouns
2. Used to take the form of certain plural Latin-derived taxonomic names

Derived terms

Translingual terms suffixed with -a

Actaea

Anguloa

antiscorbutica

Bjerkandera

Bougainvillea

Bregmatomyrma

Bursera

Calibrachoa

Casimiroa

Cattleya

Charpentiera

Chrysopa

Colea

Cooperconcha

Crowea

Cyana

Cylindera

Dalea

Decaloba

Dionycha

Donacia

Dudleya

Dudresnaya

Enoplognatha

Epiprocta

Gordea

Grevillea

Gyrophaena

Hosta

Indomyrma

Karwinskia

Kluyvera

Kunzea

Laportea

Lejeunea

Lobosa

Lonicera

Macleaya

Melanophthalma

Monilifera

Morchella

Murraya

Neomura

Palinura

Pallavicinia

Parvulastra

Pringlea

Ramonda

Razoumofskya

Rissoa

Salvadora

Saussurea

Scrobipalpula

Shorea

Sinningia

Spaniocentra

Suckleya

Sungaya

Swainsona

Szczawinskia

Torreya

Varroa

Waynea

Weigela

Zaluzianskya

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin -a (nominative second declension neuter plural suffix), plural counterpart to -um (nominative second declension neuter singular suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ɑ/, /ə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophones: -er, -or (in non-rhotic accents)

Suffix

-a

1. plural of -um

Derived terms

• bacteria
• cilia
• colossea
• data
• fora
• mausolea
• memoranda
• musea
• quanta
• sanatoria
• stadia
• ultimata

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Ancient Greek -α (-a, nominative second declension neuter plural suffix), plural counterpart to -ον (-on, nominative second declension neuter singular suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ɑ/, /ə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophones: -er, -or (in non-rhotic accents)

Suffix

-a

1. plural of -on

Derived terms

• amnia
• archaea
• automata
• cola
• criteria
• Diptera
• ephemera
• -hedra
• mitochondria
• neura
• panthea
• phenomena
• taxa
• -zoa

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin -a (nominative first declension neuter singular suffix)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: ə, IPA^(key): /ə/

Suffix

-a (plural -as or -ae)

1. Marks singular nouns, with a foundation in Greek or Latin, often implying femininity, especially when contrasted with words terminating in -us.
2. Changes an element or substance into an oxide.

   ‎magnesium + ‎-a → ‎magnesia

Synonyms

• (feminine suffix): -ess, -ette, -ine, -ress, she-, -trix

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “feminine suffix”): he-

Derived terms

• incuba

Etymology 4

Borrowed from Italian -a, Spanish -a and Portuguese -a, all feminine noun suffixes from Latin -a.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ə/

Suffix

-a

1. Marks nouns, with a foundation in Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese, implying femininity.

   donna

   signora

Synonyms

• (female suffix): -ess, -ette, -ine, -ress, she-, -trix

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “female suffix”): he-

Etymology 5

Added especially for metrical reasons, or as an empty filler syllable.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ə/, /eɪ/

Suffix

-a

1. Added for metrical reasons to songs, poetry and verse, or as an empty filler syllable to other speech.

   Alternative forms: a, a-

   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     A merry heart goes all the day
     Your sad tires in a mile-a

   • 1936 July 18, Leon Schlesinger (producer) / Norman Spencer (music), I Love to Singa:

     I love to sing-a / about the moon-a and the June-a and the spring-a, / I love to sing-a / about a sky of blue-a, or a tea for two-a.

   • 1980s, Herb Owen, “Wanna”, in Kids Sing Praise‎, performed by Kids Sing Praise:

     I wanna wanna wanna wanna wanna wanna really wanna be just like the Lord
     So every day Im gonna gonna read the Book and rest upon-a God's own holy Word
     Of good in me there's none-a none-a that's okay because I'm gonna trust upon the work that's done-a on the Cross
     and Jesus is the one-a one-a God the Father's Son-a Son-a and my sin He cures!

   • 1981, Colin Hay, Ron Strykert, performed by Men At Work, Down Under:

     Buying bread from a man in Brussels
     He was six-foot-four and full of muscle
     I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
     He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich […]

   • 2014, Don Pendleton, California Hit, Open Road Media, →ISBN:

     "I'm-a tell-a you why you better be. I named you in my will, Franco."

Etymology 6

Contraction of have.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ə/

Suffix

-a

1. (slang) Alternative form of 've.

   who'da thunk it?

   shoulda

   coulda

   woulda

Etymology 7

Contraction of of.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ə/

Suffix

-a

1. (slang) Clitic form of o' (contraction of of).

   buncha, cuppa, kinda, loadsa, lotta, sorta

   • 1946, Elizabeth Metzger Howard, Before the Sun Goes Down, page 31:

     "Jesus Christ! Was my folks refined. My mam she wouldn't think-a lettin' us young'uns call a pee pot a pee pot. A chamber's what she called it... And by God! Us young'uns had ter call the pee pot a chamber or git our God damn necks wrang."

Etymology 8

Contraction of to.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ə/

Suffix

-a

1. (informal) to (infinitive marker)

   oughta

   wanna

   gotta

   gonna

Etymology 9

Contraction of do.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ə/

Suffix

-a

1. (informal) do (infinitive marker)

   whatta

   • 1988, Living Colour, “Funny Vibe”, Epic:

     Yeah, Flav, I'm tired of them dissing brothers in the P.E. out there, we got to do something about this/(What-a we do? What-a we do?)

See also

• -er (which, in various non-rhotic dialects, reduces to -a, e.g. fatha, burna), compare -z

References

• Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “-a”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 1.
• Christine A. Lindberg, editor (2002), “-a”, in The Oxford College Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Spark Publishing, →ISBN, page 1.

Abau

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /-a/

Suffix

-a

1. indicates intensity or repetition of a verbal action

References

SIL International (2020), “Abau Dictionary”, in Webonary.org‎