> a toneless /ə/; emph. /eɪ/, a.2 (‘indefinite article’).
Before a vowel-sound an /ən, emph. æn/.

Etymology: A weakening of OE. án, ‘one’, already by 1150 reduced before a cons. to a. About the same time the numeral began to be used in a weakened sense (usually unexpressed in OE. as he wæs gód man, ‘he was a good man’; cf. Chron. 1137 ‘he wæs god munec & god man,’ and 1140 ‘he wæs an yuel man’); becoming in this sense proclitic and toneless, ăn, ă, while as a numeral it remained long, ān, ā, and passed regularly during the next cent. into ōn, ō; see the prec. word. Though an began to sink …

> a /ə/, prep.1
Also o.

Etymology: A worn-down proclitic form of OE. preposition an, on. In compounds and common phrases this became a even in OE., as abútan, a timan. The separate an was labialized to on, which form also (in West Saxon) absorbed the prep. in, and so had the meanings on, in; unto, into, to. In 11th c., on began to be reduced before consonants to o, which from its tonelessness soon sank to a /ə/. Before a vowel an was occasionally used; when emphatic on remained. The separate a is now rarely used, being replaced by the full on, in, or the various prepositions which represen…

> % unilook -A a
† a [adj.1]
† a [adv.]
† a [conj.]
† a [int.]
† a [particle]
† a [prep.3]
† a [pron.]
› a, at, of fine ← fine
› a, at, on, to seaboard ← seaboard
› a, by) lite and lite, by lithe and lithe ← lite
› a, on sand ← sand
› a, on, upon, to starboard ← starboard
› a, the) coffee ← coffee
› a-, on-, (o-) dregh ← dreigh
› a. ← A
› α-, β-, γ-irone ← irone
› α-, β-santalol ← santalol
-a [adj.] ← pseudo-
-a [suff.]
-a ← pseudo-
A [n.]
A ← A
A. ← A
Å. ← A
a [adj.2]
a [adj.3]
a [prep.1]
a [prep.2]