What ఆ means
It writes an “a” vowel held longer.
ఆ is the independent Telugu vowel form, commonly romanized as aa. Its length distinguishes it from short-a అ.
Alone before a noun in Telugu prose, ఆ can also be the demonstrative word “that” or “those.” This word use is separate from the letter’s sound.
Why are there two forms for long aa?
The syllable’s position determines which form Telugu uses.
Telugu distinguishes short and long vowel sounds: ఆ is the long counterpart of అ. After a consonant, the dependent sign ా carries that vowel; కా combines క ా, while కఆ is a different sequence.
Telugu’s script lineage reaches Southern Brahmi, also called Bhattiprolu Brahmi, in the 3rd century BCE. Telugu words appear on Satavahana bilingual coins from the 2nd century CE, and the first inscription entirely in Telugu is dated 575 CE. A shared Telugu–Kannada alphabet had developed by the 5th century; the two scripts became distinct in the 12th–13th centuries.
As a letter, ఆ is neutral; alone before a noun, it can read as a Telugu demonstrative.
After a consonant, use ా, not ఆ; కఆ and కా are different sequences.
Part of the collection
Who writes ఆ
Loading…
What it means when someone sends it to you
3 readingsThe independent letter for the long “a” vowel.
Don't confuse it with
3
More like this
11
Collections with ఆ
2
How to type or find ఆ
- Also called
- Telugu long a · Telugu aa · long ā
- Search it as
- long aa · long-a vowel · ఆ pronunciation · ఆ vs అ · Telugu vowel sign
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
ఆ\0C06aa and choose ఆ; some tools also accept capital A.Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.