អា

Khmer

Pronunciation

Orthographic and Phonemic	អា ʼā
WT romanisation	ʼaa
(standard) IPA^(key)	/ʔaː/

Etymology 1

Particle

អា • (ʼaa)

derogatory or colloquial particle.

Usage notes

Particle used before nouns and noun phrases giving them a derogatory or very familiar meaning.

អាអត់ពូជ ― ʼaa ʼɑt puuc ― son of a bitch!

It is commonly used in addressing close friends, persons regarded as inferiors, or young boys.

អាវ៉ា ― ʼaa vaa ― term of address for boys

It can also be used before the name of something with which one is annoyed. When preceding adjectives or demonstratives, it forms nouns with a notion of disapproval or familiarity.

អានេះ, អានោះ ― ʼaa nih , · ʼaa nuh ― this one, that one

Etymology 2

Verb

អា • (ʼaa) (abstract noun ការអា)

Alternative form of អារ (ʼaa): to saw

Sanskrit

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

আ (Assamese script)
ᬆ (Balinese script)
আ (Bengali script)
𑰁 (Bhaiksuki script)
𑀆 (Brahmi script)
အာ (Burmese script)
आ (Devanagari script)
આ (Gujarati script)
ਆ (Gurmukhi script)
𑌆 (Grantha script)
ꦄꦴ (Javanese script)
𑂄 (Kaithi script)
ಆ (Kannada script)
ອາ (Lao script)
ആ (Malayalam script)
ᠠᢇ (Manchu script)
𑘁 (Modi script)
ᠠ᠋᠎ᠠ (Mongolian script)
𑦡 (Nandinagari script)
𑐁 (Newa script)
ଆ (Odia script)
ꢃ (Saurashtra script)
𑆄 (Sharada script)
𑖁 (Siddham script)
ආ (Sinhalese script)
𑩐𑩛 (Soyombo script)
𑚁 (Takri script)
ஆ (Tamil script)
ఆ (Telugu script)
อา (Thai script)
ཨཱ (Tibetan script)
𑒂 (Tirhuta script)
𑨀𑨊 (Zanabazar Square script)

Preposition

អា • (ā́)

Alternative form of आ (ā, “as far as”)
- 900-1100 AD; copied later, Arlo Griffiths, Kunthea Chhom, “A problematic inscription (K.1237)”, in Udaya: Journal of Khmer Studies‎^[1], volume 14 (PDF), Yosothor, published 2019, halshs-02168837, page 10:
  វិមទ*យន្តិយេភូមី*
  ទាសាន្ទេវស្យបាបី*នះ
  តេសវ្វ៌នរកេយាន្តុ
  យាតនាមាភវក្ឞយាត៑ ៕
  * Read ទ, មី and បី as ទ៌, មិ and បិ.
  vimardayanti ye bhūmi
  dāsāndevasya pāpinaḥ
  te sarvvanarake yāntu
  yātanām ā bhavakṣayāt· ॥
  May the evil ones who disturb the land and servants of the god undergo torment in every hell until the end of existence.