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    <title>A</title>
    <id>290</id>
    <revision>
      <id>320378870</id>
      <timestamp>2009-10-17T10:09:06Z</timestamp>
      <contributor>
        <username>TFBCT1</username>
        <id>6479686</id>
      </contributor>
      <comment>
<p>/* Usage */ if you are going to do a comparison using that particular chart- you have to use all of its data or it doesn't make any sense.</p></comment>
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<p>{{dablink}}
{{pp-semi-vandalism}}</p>
<p>{{Two other uses}}</p>
<p>{{wiktionarypar2}}
{{Latin alphabet navbox}}
The letter <b>A</b> is the first letter in the <a href="Latin_alphabet" title="Latin alphabet">Latin alphabet</a>. Its name in <a href="English_language" title="English language">English</a> ({{pron-en}}) is spelled <b>a</b>; the plural is <i>aes,</i> though this is rare.<sup id="_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#_note-1" title="">[1]</a></sup></p>
<table id="toc" class="toc" summary="Contents">
<tr>
<td>
<div id="toctitle">
<h2>Contents</h2>
</div>
<ul>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#History">History</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Usage">Usage</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Codes_for_computing">Codes for computing</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#See_also">See also</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#References">References</a>
</li>
</ul>
</ul></td></tr></table><hr/>
<a id="History" name="History"/><h2>History</h2>
<p>The letter A can be traced to a <a href="Pictogram" title="pictogram">pictogram</a> of an <a href="Ox" title="ox">ox</a> head in <a href="Egyptian_hieroglyph" title="Egyptian hieroglyph">Egyptian hieroglyphs</a> or the <a href="Proto-Sinaitic_alphabet" title="Proto-Sinaitic alphabet">Proto-Sinaitic alphabet</a>.<sup id="_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#_note-2" title="">[2]</a></sup></p>

<div style="page-break-inside: avoid;">
<table class="wikitable">
<tr style="background-color:#EEEEEE; text-align:center;">
<th>Egyptian</th>
<th>Proto-Semitic<br/> ox's head</th>
<th>Phoenician <br/><i><a href="Aleph" title="aleph">aleph</a></i></th>
<th>Greek <br/><i><a href="Alpha_(letter)" title="Alpha (letter)">Alpha</a></i></th>
<th>Etruscan <br/>A</th>
<th>Roman <br/>A</th></tr>
<tr style="background-color:white; text-align:center;">
<td><a class="internal" href="Image:EgyptianA-01.svg.png" title="Egyptian hieroglyphic ox head"><img src="EgyptianA-01.svg.png" alt="Egyptian hieroglyphic ox head" title="Egyptian hieroglyphic ox head" class="location-none"/>
</a></td>
<td><a class="internal" href="Image:Proto-semiticA-01.svg.png" title="Proto-semitic ox head"><img src="Proto-semiticA-01.svg.png" alt="Proto-semitic ox head" title="Proto-semitic ox head" class="location-none"/>
</a></td>
<td><a class="internal" href="Image:PhoenicianA-01.svg.png" title="Phoenician aleph"><img src="PhoenicianA-01.svg.png" alt="Phoenician aleph" title="Phoenician aleph" class="location-none"/>
</a></td>
<td><div style="width:65px;"><a class="internal" href="Image:65px-Alpha_uc_lc.svg.png" title="Greek alpha"><img src="65px-Alpha_uc_lc.svg.png" alt="Greek alpha" title="Greek alpha" class="location-none" width="65"/>
</a></div>
</td>
<td><a class="internal" href="Image:EtruscanA.svg.png" title="Etruscan A"><img src="EtruscanA.svg.png" alt="Etruscan A" title="Etruscan A" class="location-none"/>
</a></td>
<td><a class="internal" href="Image:RomanA-01.svg.png" title="Roman A"><img src="RomanA-01.svg.png" alt="Roman A" title="Roman A" class="location-none"/>
</a></td></tr></table></div>

<p>Circa 1600 B.C. the <a href="Phoenician_alphabet" title="Phoenician alphabet">Phoenician alphabet</a>'s letter had a linear form that served as the base for some later forms. Its name must have corresponded closely to the <a href="Hebrew_alphabet" title="Hebrew alphabet">Hebrew</a> <a href="Aleph" title="aleph">aleph</a>.</p>

<div style="page-break-inside: avoid;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" style="background-color: white; float: right;">
<tr align="center">
<td><a class="internal" href="Image:BlackletterA-01.png" title="Blackletter A"><img src="BlackletterA-01.png" alt="Blackletter A" title="Blackletter A" class="location-none"/>
</a><br/><a href="Blackletter" title="Blackletter">Blackletter</a> A </td>
<td><a class="internal" href="Image:UncialA-01.svg.png" title="Uncial A"><img src="UncialA-01.svg.png" alt="Uncial A" title="Uncial A" class="location-none"/>
</a><br/><a href="Uncial" title="Uncial">Uncial</a> A</td>
<td><a class="internal" href="Image:Acap.svg.png" title="Another Capital A"><img src="Acap.svg.png" alt="Another Capital A" title="Another Capital A" class="location-none"/>
</a><br/>Another Blackletter A </td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td><a class="internal" href="Image:ModernRomanA-01.svg.png" title="Modern Roman A"><img src="ModernRomanA-01.svg.png" alt="Modern Roman A" title="Modern Roman A" class="location-none"/>
</a><br/>Modern Roman A</td>
<td><a class="internal" href="Image:Modern_Italic_A.svg.png" title="Modern Italic A"><img src="Modern_Italic_A.svg.png" alt="Modern Italic A" title="Modern Italic A" class="location-none"/>
</a><br/>Modern Italic A</td>
<td><a class="internal" href="Image:Modern_Script_A.svg.png" title="Modern Script A"><img src="Modern_Script_A.svg.png" alt="Modern Script A" title="Modern Script A" class="location-none"/>
</a><br/>Modern Script A</td></tr></table></div>
<p>When the <a href="Ancient_Greece" title="Ancient Greece">Ancient Greeks</a> adopted the alphabet, they had no use for the <a href="Glottal_stop" title="glottal stop">glottal stop</a> that the letter had denoted in <a href="Phoenician_languages" title="Phoenician languages">Phoenician</a> and other <a href="Semitic_languages" title="Semitic languages">Semitic languages</a>, so they used the sign for the vowel {{IPA}}, and kept its name with a minor change (<a href="Alpha_(letter)" title="alpha (letter)">alpha</a>). In the earliest Greek inscriptions after the <a href="Greek_Dark_Ages" title="Greek Dark Ages">Greek Dark Ages</a>, dating to the 8th century BC, the letter rests upon its side, but in the <a href="Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek alphabet</a> of later times it generally resembles the modern capital letter, although many local varieties can be distinguished by the shortening of one leg, or by the angle at which the cross line is set.</p>
<p>The <a href="Etruscans" title="Etruscans">Etruscans</a> brought the Greek alphabet to their civilization in the <a href="Italian_Peninsula" title="Italian Peninsula">Italian Peninsula</a> and left the letter unchanged. The Romans later adopted the <a href="Old_Italic_alphabet" title="Old Italic alphabet">Etruscan alphabet</a> to write <a href="Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a>, and the resulting letter was preserved in the modern <a href="Latin_alphabet" title="Latin alphabet">Latin alphabet</a> used to write many languages, including <a href="English_language" title="English language">English</a>.</p>
<p><a class="internal" href="Image:LowercaseA.svg.png" title="Typographic variants include a double-story and single-story a."><img src="LowercaseA.svg.png" alt="Typographic variants include a double-story and single-story a." title="Typographic variants include a double-story and single-story a." class="location-right type-thumb"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption">Typographic variants include a double-story and single-story <b>a</b>.</div>
The letter has two <a href="Lower_case" title="Lower case">minuscule</a> (lower-case) forms. The form used in most current <a href="Handwriting" title="handwriting">handwriting</a>, and in <a href="Italic_type" title="italic type">italic type</a>, consists of a circle and vertical stroke ({{Unicode}}), called <a href="Latin_alpha" title="Latin alpha">Latin alpha</a> or "script a". Most printed material uses a form consisting of a small loop with an arc over it ({{IPA}}). Both derive from the <a href="Majuscule" title="majuscule">majuscule</a> (capital) form. In Greek handwriting, it was common to join the left leg and horizontal stroke into a single loop, as demonstrated by the Uncial version shown. Many fonts then made the right leg vertical. In some of these, the <a href="Serif" title="serif">serif</a> that began the right leg stroke developed into an arc, resulting in the printed form, while in others it was dropped, resulting in the modern handwritten form.</p>
<a id="Usage" name="Usage"/><h2>Usage</h2>
<p>In <a href="English_language" title="English language">English</a>, the letter "A" by itself usually denotes the <a href="Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="near-open front unrounded vowel">near-open front unrounded vowel</a> ({{IPA}}) as in <i>pad</i>, the <a href="Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="open back unrounded vowel">open back unrounded vowel</a> ({{IPA}}) as in <i>father</i>, or, in concert with a later orthographic vowel, the diphthong {{IPA}} as in <i>ace</i> and <i>major</i>, due to effects of the <a href="Great_vowel_shift" title="great vowel shift">great vowel shift</a>.  </p>
<p>In most other languages that use the Latin alphabet, the letter A denotes either an <a href="Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="open back unrounded vowel">open back unrounded vowel</a> ({{IPA}}), or an <a href="Open_central_unrounded_vowel" title="open central unrounded vowel">open central unrounded vowel</a> ({{IPA}}). In the <a href="Help:IPA" title="help:IPA">International Phonetic Alphabet</a>, variants of the letter A denote various <a href="Vowel" title="vowel">vowels</a>. In <a href="X-SAMPA" title="X-SAMPA">X-SAMPA</a>, capital A denotes the <a href="Open_back_unrounded_vowel" title="open back unrounded vowel">open back unrounded vowel</a> and lowercase a denotes the <a href="Open_front_unrounded_vowel" title="open front unrounded vowel">open front unrounded vowel</a>.</p>
<p><i>A</i> is the third most common letter in English, and the second most common in <a href="Spanish_language" title="Spanish language">Spanish</a> and <a href="French_language" title="French language">French</a>. In one study, on average, about 3.68% of letters in English tend to be <i>A</i>s, while the number is 6.22% in Spanish and 3.95% in French.<sup id="_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#_note-3" title="">[3]</a></sup></p>
<p><i>A</i> is often used to denote something or someone of a better or more prestigious quality or status: A or A+, the best grade that can be assigned by teachers for students' schoolwork; A grade for clean restaurants; <a href="A-List" title="A-List">A-List</a> celebrities, etc. The number <a href="1" title="1">1</a> is used in a similar way.</p>
<p>A <a href="Turned_a" title="turned a">turned 'a'</a> (ɐ) is used by the <a href="International_Phonetic_Alphabet" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">International Phonetic Alphabet</a> for the <a href="Near-open_central_vowel" title="near-open central vowel">near-open central vowel</a>, while a turned capital 'A' (∀) is used in <a href="Predicate_logic" title="predicate logic">predicate logic</a> to indicate <a href="Universal_quantification" title="universal quantification">universal quantification</a>.</p>
<p>{{Letter}}</p>
<a id="Codes_for_computing" name="Codes_for_computing"/><h2>Codes for computing</h2>
<p>In <a href="Unicode" title="Unicode">Unicode</a> the <a href="Majuscule" title="majuscule">capital</a> A is codepoint U+0041 and the <a href="Lower_case" title="lower case">lower case</a> a is U+0061.<sup id="_ref-unicode_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-unicode" title="">[4]</a></sup></p>
<p>The <a href="ASCII" title="ASCII">ASCII</a> code for capital A is 65 and for lower case a is 97; or in <a href="Binary_numeral_system" title="Binary numeral system">binary</a> 01000001 and 01100001, respectively.</p>
<p>The <a href="EBCDIC" title="EBCDIC">EBCDIC</a> code for capital A is 193 and for lowercase a is 129.</p>
<p>The <a href="Numeric_character_reference" title="numeric character reference">numeric character references</a> in <a href="HTML" title="HTML">HTML</a> and <a href="XML" title="XML">XML</a> are "<tt>&amp;#65;</tt>" and "<tt>&amp;#97;</tt>" for upper and lower case, respectively.</p>
<a id="See_also" name="See_also"/><h2>See also</h2>
<p>{{col-begin}}
{{col-3}}
</p>
<ul>
<li><big><a href="ª" title="ª">ª</a></big></li>
<li><a href="Æ" title="Æ">Æ</a></li>
<li><a href="Alpha_(letter)" title="Alpha (letter)">Alpha</a></li>
<li><a href="A_(Cyrillic)" title="A (Cyrillic)">Cyrillic A</a></li></ul>
<p>{{col-3}}
{{Commons}}
{{col-3}}
{{Wikisource1911Enc}}
{{col-end}}</p>
<a id="References" name="References"/><h2>References</h2>
<p>{{reflist}}</p>
<p>{{Latin alphabet}}</p>
<p>

</p>
<p><a href="http://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">af:A</a>
<a href="http://als.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">als:A</a>
<a href="http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">ar:A</a>
<a href="http://an.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">an:A</a>
<a href="http://arc.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">arc:A</a>
<a href="http://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">ast:A</a>
<a href="http://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">az:A</a>
<a href="http://zh-min-nan.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">zh-min-nan:A</a>
<a href="http://ba.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD_%D1%85%D3%99%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%84%D0%B5)">ba:A (латин хәрефе)</a>
<a href="Bar:A" title="bar:A">bar:A</a>
<a href="http://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">bs:A</a>
<a href="http://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(lizherenn)">br:A (lizherenn)</a>
<a href="http://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">bg:A</a>
<a href="http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">ca:A</a>
<a href="http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">cs:A</a>
<a href="http://co.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">co:A</a>
<a href="http://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">cy:A</a>
<a href="http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">da:A</a>
<a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">de:A</a>
<a href="http://dv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DE%87%DE%AD">dv:އޭ</a>
<a href="http://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">et:A</a>
<a href="http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">el:A</a>
<a href="Eml:A" title="eml:A">eml:A</a>
<a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">es:A</a>
<a href="http://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">eo:A</a>
<a href="http://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">eu:A</a>
<a href="http://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">fa:A</a>
<a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(lettre)">fr:A (lettre)</a>
<a href="http://fy.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">fy:A</a>
<a href="http://fur.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">fur:A</a>
<a href="http://gv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aittyn">gv:Aittyn</a>
<a href="http://gd.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">gd:A</a>
<a href="http://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">gl:A</a>
<a href="Gan:A" title="gan:A">gan:A</a>
<a href="http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">ko:A</a>
<a href="http://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">hr:A</a>
<a href="http://io.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">io:A</a>
<a href="Ilo:A" title="ilo:A">ilo:A</a>
<a href="http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">id:A</a>
<a href="http://ia.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">ia:A</a>
<a href="http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">is:A</a>
<a href="http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">it:A</a>
<a href="http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">he:A</a>
<a href="http://jv.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">jv:A</a>
<a href="http://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">ka:A</a>
<a href="http://kw.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">kw:A</a>
<a href="http://sw.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">sw:A</a>
<a href="http://ht.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">ht:A</a>
<a href="http://ku.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(herf)">ku:A (herf)</a>
<a href="http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">la:A</a>
<a href="http://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">lv:A</a>
<a href="http://lb.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(Buschtaf)">lb:A (Buschtaf)</a>
<a href="http://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">lt:A</a>
<a href="http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">hu:A</a>
<a href="http://mk.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(%D0%9B%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0)">mk:A (Латиница)</a>
<a href="http://mg.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">mg:A</a>
<a href="http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">ml:A</a>
<a href="Mzn:A" title="mzn:A">mzn:A</a>
<a href="http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">ms:A</a>
<a href="http://nah.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">nah:A</a>
<a href="http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(letter)">nl:A (letter)</a>
<a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">ja:A</a>
<a href="http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">no:A</a>
<a href="http://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">nn:A</a>
<a href="Nrm:A" title="nrm:A">nrm:A</a>
<a href="http://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(harf)">uz:A (harf)</a>
<a href="http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">pl:A</a>
<a href="http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">pt:A</a>
<a href="Crh:A" title="crh:A">crh:A</a>
<a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">ro:A</a>
<a href="http://qu.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">qu:A</a>
<a href="http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0)">ru:A (латиница)</a>
<a href="http://se.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">se:A</a>
<a href="Stq:A" title="stq:A">stq:A</a>
<a href="http://scn.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">scn:A</a>
<a href="http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">simple:A</a>
<a href="http://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">sk:A</a>
<a href="http://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">sl:A</a>
<a href="Szl:A" title="szl:A">szl:A</a>
<a href="Srn:A" title="srn:A">srn:A</a>
<a href="http://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE_%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B5)">sr:A (слово латинице)</a>
<a href="http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">fi:A</a>
<a href="http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">sv:A</a>
<a href="http://tl.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">tl:A</a>
<a href="http://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">th:A</a>
<a href="http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(harf)">tr:A (harf)</a>
<a href="http://tk.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">tk:A</a>
<a href="http://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D1%8F)">uk:A (латиниця)</a>
<a href="http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">vi:A</a>
<a href="http://vo.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">vo:A</a>
<a href="http://yi.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">yi:A</a>
<a href="http://yo.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">yo:A</a>
<a href="Zh-yue:A" title="zh-yue:A">zh-yue:A</a>
<a href="Diq:A" title="diq:A">diq:A</a>
<a href="Bat-smg:A" title="bat-smg:A">bat-smg:A</a>
<a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/A">zh:A</a></p></text>
    </revision>
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