Etymology From Middle English a- (“up, out, away”), from Old English ā-, originally *ar-, *or-, from Proto-West Germanic *uʀ-, from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out-”), from Proto-Indo-European *uds- (“up, out”). Cognate with Old Saxon a-, German er-.
1
Idiomatic, Morpheme Forming verbs with the sense away, up, on, out.
arise, await
2
Idiomatic, Morpheme Forming verbs with the sense of intensified action.
abide, amaze
a-
prefix
Etymology From Middle English a- (“on”), derived from unstressed Middle English an (“on”), from Old English an (“on”). See a (preposition, on, to, in, etc.)
1
Idiomatic, Morpheme, Rare In, on, at; used to show a state, condition, or manner. Also passing into sense 2.
aglow, apace, afire, aboil, a-bling, abluster
2
Idiomatic, Morpheme In, into. Also passing into sense 5.
Archaic, Dialectal, Morpheme In the act or process of. Used in some dialects before a present participle.
hits a-poppin
doins a-transpirin
4 more examples
The twelfth day of Christmas, My true love sent to me Twelve lords a-leaping, … Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying,1780, The Twelve Days of Christmas
circa 1850, Here We Come A-wassailing/Here We Come A-caroling Here we come a-wassailing Among the leaves so green; Here we come a-wand’ring So fair to be seen.
Oh waste no words a-wooing The soft sleep to your bed;1939, Alfred Edward Housman, Additional Poems, XIII, lines 6-7:
The hay is a-cutting now. You're a-wanting.1947, A NORTH-COUNTY DUBLIN CLOSSARY
a-
prefix
Etymology From Middle English a-, a variant form of y-, from Old English ġe-, from Proto-West Germanic *ga-, from Proto-Germanic *ga-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“with”).
1
Alternative, Archaic, Dialectal, Morpheme Alternative form of y-. In dialect, it is sometimes conflated with sense 5 of the previous definition, and is used as a general indicator of a participle.
aware, alike
2
Devon, Morpheme Used to form the past participle of a verb.
I have a-gone.
I have a-seen a bird.
a-
prefix
Etymology From Anglo-Norman a-, from Old French e-, from Latin ex-.
1
Idiomatic, Morpheme Forming words with the sense of wholly, or utterly out.
abash
a-
prefix
CA, US, UK /eɪ/ · AU, NZ /æɪ/
Etymology From Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-), preconsonantal form of ἀν- (an-). Distant doublet of un-.
When invited to believe in the Chimaera, the horse-centaurs, or the winged horse Pegasus, all of them straightforward Pelasgian cult-symbols, a philosopher felt bound to reject them as a-zoölogical improbabilities ….1948 (revised 1952), Robert Graves, The White Goddess, Faber & Faber 1999, page 7
1 more example
If aroused outside the proper outlet of marriage, [female lust] could range out of control, turning its possessor into an a-feminine monster: that is what happened to fallen women.2012, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex, Penguin, published 2013, page 191: