Word.ws English Dictionary

'a

'a is the alternative form of a.

Meaning of a

Pronoun

a

  1. (obsolete outside England and Scotland dialects) He, she, they: the third-person singular or plural nominative.
    • He've a got a great venture on hand, but what a [it] be he tell'th no man.1855, Kingsley, W. Ho!, page 120 (edition of 1889)
    1. (obsolete outside England and Scotland dialects) He, the third-person singular nominative.
      • a’ brushes his hat o’ mornings.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    2. (obsolete outside England and Scotland dialects) She, the third-person singular nominative.
      • A wanted me to go with her.1790, Grose, MS. add. (M.)

See all 61 meanings of a

Questions about 'a

What is 'a the alternative form of?
'a is the alternative form of a.

Words near 'a in the dictionary

  1. '50s progressions
  2. '60s
  3. '70s
  4. '80s
  5. '90s
  6. 'a
  7. 'a'
  8. 'a'a
  9. 'a'ā
  10. 'abd
  11. 'abds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 'a (page history and authors); a (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “'a.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/%27a. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.