阿 (ā) is a Chinese character meaning “a familiar prefix placed before names, kinship terms and”. It is written from 阝 (left form: mound (阜); right form: city or settlement (邑)) and 可 (can; may; approve), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “the familiar "ah-" prefix, as in 阿姨 (auntie)”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
阝 + 可
Left–right structure
- 阝 left form: mound (阜); right form: city or settlement (邑) · fù meaning
- 可 can; may; approve · kě sound
Structure from: 说文解字（阿，大陵也。从阜可聲）
Memory aid
The mound radical (阝) on the left, and 可 on the right telling you roughly how it sounds. Today you mostly meet 阿 as the warm little prefix you stick in front of someone you know.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 阿姨ā yíauntie; a friendly term for a woman of one's mother's generation阿 = ā
- 阿拉伯ā lā bóArab; Arabic; Arabia阿 = ā
Go deeper
All readings
prefix for names and kinship terms
a familiar prefix placed before names, kinship terms and some transliterations
用在称呼或名字前的前缀，表示亲近；也用于音译词。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 阿姨ā yíauntie; a friendly term for a woman of one's mother's generation阿 = ā
- 阿拉伯ā lā bóArab; Arabic; Arabia阿 = ā
Sound component
可 family diverged
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 阿 mean?
阿 (ā) means a familiar prefix placed before names, kinship terms and some transliterations.
How do you pronounce 阿?
It is pronounced ā.
What parts is 阿 made of?
阝 (left form: mound (阜); right form: city or settlement (邑)) and 可 (can; may; approve), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字（阿，大陵也。从阜可聲）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 阿 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 阿?
阜. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 阿?
Common ones are 阿姨 and 阿拉伯. The reading of 阿 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.