Meaning
an initial particle; prefix to names of people; (phonetic character); (final part.); (interj.); flatter
Chinese: 词头或语气词，常用于称呼和音译。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “a” becomes a different word in each tone. 阿 is the 1st tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 阿姨ā yímaternal aunt; step-mother; childcare worker; nursemaid
- 阿们ā men(loanword) amen
- 阿家ā gūhusband's mother
- 阿公ā gōng(old) grandfather; polite address for an elderly man, or a woman's father-in-law; (Taiwanese) grandfather
- 阿门ā mén(loanword) amen
Example Sentence
我家附近住着一位热心的阿姨。Wǒ jiā fù jìn zhù zhe yí wèi rè xīn de ā yí.A warm-hearted aunt lives near my home.
我WǒI家jiāhome附近fù jìnnearby住zhùto live着zhe(ongoing action)一yíone位wèiposition热心rè xīnenthusiastic的deof阿姨ā yímaternal aunt。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The mound radical 阝 plus 可 (sound): originally a big hill/bend. Today it is mostly a friendly prefix before names and kinship terms (阿姨 auntie, 阿明), an interjection (ā: 阿，是你), and appears in 阿谀 ‘to flatter’ (ē).
A way to remember it
A friendly name-prefix: 阿姨 (auntie), 阿哥.