å

See also: Å and Appendix:Variations of "a"

å	U+00E5, å LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE

Composition:

a [U+0061] + ◌̊ [U+030A]

← ä
[U+00E4]

Latin-1 Supplement

æ →
[U+00E6]

Translingual

Letter

å (upper case Å)

The letter a with a ring above, considered an individual letter by most languages where it is used.

Bavarian

Letter

å

A letter of some Bavarian alphabets.

Usage notes

å [ɔ] is distinguished from a [ɑ], as in Håndl (= Handel) vs. Handl (= Händlein, Händchen), wår (= war) vs. war (= wäre)
Some other special characters sometimes used in Bavarian German are:
- ä, ö, ü (even in some older Fraktur texts with dots instead of aͤ, oͤ, uͤ)
- a͡i, a͡u, e͡a, i͡a, o͡a, u͡a
- ^r

Chamorro

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɑ/

Letter

å (upper case Å)

The third letter of the Chamorro alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Cimbrian

Alternative forms

aan (Sette Comuni)

Etymology

From Middle High German an, ane, from Old High German ana, from Proto-Germanic *ana (“on, onto”). Cognate with German an, English on.

Preposition

å (Luserna)

(+ dative) on; For stationary objects, e.g. It is on the table.
(+ accusative) on, onto; For moving objects. e.g. I put it on the table.

Adverb

å

(Luserna) on, onward

References

Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Danish

Etymology 1

Analogical after the other names of vowel letters in the Roman alphabet. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈɔˀ]

Letter

å (upper case Å)

the last (29th) letter of the Danish alphabet

Inflection

Declension of å

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
neuter gender	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	å	å'et	å'er	å'erne
genitive	å's	å'ets	å'ers	å'ernes

Declension of Å

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
neuter gender	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	Å	Å'et	Å'er	Å'erne
genitive	Å's	Å'ets	Å'ers	Å'ernes

Alternative forms

aa (at least in the spelling of words)

Etymology 2

From Old Norse á (“river”), from Proto-Germanic *ahwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂ (“water”), related to Latin aqua (“water”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈɔˀ]

Noun

å c (singular definite åen, plural indefinite åer)

river, creek, stream (only used of rivers in Denmark)

Inflection

Declension of å

common gender	Singular		Plural
common gender	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	å	åen	åer	åerne
genitive	ås	åens	åers	åernes

Derived terms

ådal
åkande
åløb
åmand
åmunding

Etymology 3

From Old Norse á (“ow!”).

Alternative forms

åh

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈɔː]

Interjection

å

oh
O
well

Etymology 4

From Old Norse á, from Proto-Germanic *ana (“on, onto”). Cognate with Swedish å, English on, and German on.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ɔ], (at the end of a clause) IPA^(key): [ˈɔʱ]

Preposition

å

(Jutland, dialectal) on
Synonym: på

East Central German

Etymology

Cognate to German an.

Letter

å

(Silesian) A letter of some Silesian alphabets.

Usage notes

Alternative characters used instead of å are oa.

Preposition

å (+ dative)

(Silesian, local) on

å (+ accusative)

(Silesian) on

Finnish

Pronunciation

Audio (file)

Letter

å (lower case, upper case Å)

The twenty-sixth letter of the Finnish alphabet, called ruotsalainen oo and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Used only in Scandinavian names.

German Low German

Letter

å (upper case Å)

A letter of some Low German alphabets.

Usage notes

Alternative characters used instead of å are ao, oa, â, a, aa.
There are various ways to denote the umlaut of å. See for example D. G. Babst, Allerhand schnaksche Saken tum Tiedverdriew, Chr. Gilow, De Hochtîd.
For the variant spelling a, the characters ä, æ or œ do occur for the umlaut.

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /oː/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /oː/, /ɔ/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Swedish å.

Letter

å (upper case Å)

The twenty-ninth letter of the Norwegian Bokmål alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Before the letter's introduction in 1917, the sound it represents today (similar to the "a" in "all") was written with two As, Aa (this spelling can still be seen in some proper names, and in digital media, such as urls or e-mails, due to using a keyboard where the letter doesn't exist or for fear of mojibake). The two As were originally a new form of the Old Norse á, whose representation was a long open a-sound (similar to the "a" in "father"). Gradually, it turned into the modern å-sound and the Aa was eventually replaced with Å.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse at (“by, to”), whence also at and ad.

Particle

å

to (infinitive marker)
Å løpe
to run

Etymology 3

From Old Norse ó, was used in the same sense.

Interjection

å

To express different emotions, oh
Å, er det deg?
Oh, is it you?
Å gud, for et dårlig vær det er.
oh dear, look how bad the weather is.
Å, skitt, du har problemer!
Oh shit, you're in trouble!
Used to make the message more urgent, pleading, or to underline it, oh
Å, vær så snill, kan vi ikke dra?
Oh, please, can't we go?
To express hesitation or dismissal, oh
Å ja, sier du det?
Oh really, is that so?
Hva skjedde? —Å, ingenting
What happened here? —Oh, nothing.
Å, jeg er ikke så sikker på det.
Oh, I'm not so sure about that.

Etymology 4

From Old Norse á, related to Latin aqua (“water”).

Noun

å f or m (definite singular åa or åen, indefinite plural åer, definite plural åene)

A small river; a creek; a big stream (used mostly in dialects, obsolete in writing)
Mange bekker små gjør en stor å
every little helps (literally: "Many small creeks make a big stream")

Derived terms

åfløy
åmot

Etymology 5

From Old Norse hvat, same as hva.

Pronoun

å

(dialectal) what (interrogative pronoun)

Alternative forms

Å (upper case symbol)
ångstrøm (full unit of measure)

Symbol

å

(physics) symbol used to represent an angstrom unit

Conjunction

å

Misspelling of og.

References

“å” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
“å” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
“å” in The Ordnett Dictionary

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

(Etymologies 2-6): aa (obsolete typography (pre-1917))

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Swedish å.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /oː/
Homophone: og

Letter

å (upper case Å, definite singular å-en, indefinite plural å-ar, definite plural å-ane)

The twenty-ninth letter of the Norwegian Nynorsk alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Before the letter's introduction in 1917, the sound it represents today (similar to the "a" in "all") was written with two A's, Aa (this spelling can still be seen in some cases). The two A's was originally a new form of the Old Norse á, whose representation was a long open a-sound (similar to the "a" in "father"). Gradually it turned into the modern å-sound and the Aa was eventually replaced with Å.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse at (“by, to”), whence also at and åt.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɔ/

Particle

å

used as the infinitive marker; to
Dei er vanskelege å sjå.
They are hard to see.

Etymology 3

From Old Norse á, from Proto-Germanic *ahwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ékʷeh₂. Cognates include Latin aquā (“water”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /oː/

Noun

å f (definite singular åa, indefinite plural åer, definite plural åene)

a (small) river; a creek
Mange bekker små gjer ei stor å
numerous small contributions give big results
(literally, “Many small creeks makes a big stream”)
(chiefly dialectal or archaic) a (large) stream

Inflection

Historical inflection of å

	indefinite singular	definite singular	indefinite plural	definite plural
Aasen¹	Aa	Aai	Aaer	Aaerna
1901			aaer (aair)	aaerne (aaine)
1917	å	åa, åi	åer	åene
1938		åa [åi]
2012 (current)	å	åa	åer	åene

Forms in italics are currently considered non-standard. Forms in [brackets] were official, but considered second-tier. Forms in (parentheses) were allowed under Midlandsnormalen. ¹Nouns were capitalised for most of the 19th century.

Alternative forms

åg, ån (o)

Derived terms

åfløy
åmot

Etymology 4

From Old Norse ó, was used in the same sense.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /oː/
Homophone: og

Interjection

å

To express different emotions; oh
Å, er det deg?
oh, is it you?
Å gud, for eit dårleg vêr det er!
Oh dear, what a bad weather!
Å skitt, du er i trøbbel!
Oh no, you're in trouble!
Used to make the message more urgent, pleading, or to underline it; oh
Å, ver så snill, kan vi kje dra?
oh please! Can't we go?
To express hesitation or dismissal; oh
Å ja, seier du det?
oh really, is that so?
Hva skjedde? Å, ingenting.
What happened? Oh! Nothing.
Å, eg er ikkje så sikker på det
oh, I'm not so sure about that

Etymology 5

From Old Norse á (“on, on top of”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɔ/

Preposition

å

used in certain fixed expressions regarding position
Han fall å bak
He fell backwards
(literally, “He fell on back”)
Ho låg å gruve.
She was lying on her stomach.
used in expressions regarding time
Det er midt å natta.
It's the middle of the night.

Etymology 6

From Old Norse hvat, same as kva. Other dialectal variants include ka, ke or kæ.

Pronoun

å

(dialectal) what (interrogative pronoun)

Etymology 7

Named after Swedish physisist Anders Johan Ångström (1814–1874). An initialism of his name.

Alternative forms

Å (upper case symbol)
ångstrøm (full unit of measure)

Symbol

å

(physics) symbol used to represent an angstrom unit

Conjunction

å

misspelling of og

Adverb

å

misspelling of òg

References

“å” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
“å”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016
“å” in The Ordnett Dictionary
“å” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
Ivar Aasen (1850), “aa”, in Ordbog over det norske Folkesprog, Oslo: Samlaget, published 2000

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /ɔ/

Letter

å (upper case Å)

The thirty-fifth letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Slovene

Etymology

Letter a with ring above ◌̊ to signify a closer rounded vowel.

Pronunciation

(sound): IPA^(key): [ɒ̝]

Symbol

å

(SNPT) Phonetic transcription of dialectal sound [ɒ̝].

References

Kenda-Jež, Karmen (February 27, 2017) Fonetična trankripcija [Phonetic transcription]‎ (in Slovene), Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU, Inštitut za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša, retrieved March 19, 2022, pages 27–30

Southern Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /o/

Letter

å (upper case Å)

The twenty-fifth letter of the Southern Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Swedish

Pronunciation

audio (file)

Letter name, noun, preposition

IPA^(key): /oː/, [oə̯]

Phoneme

IPA^(key): /oː/, /ɔ/

Etymology 1

From two a’s written on top of each other; compare ä and ö.

Letter

å (lower case, upper case Å)

The third to last letter of the Swedish alphabet, called å and written in the Latin script.

Etymology 2

From Old Swedish ā, from Old Norse á, from Proto-Germanic *ahwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂.

Noun

å c

a river, a creek, a big stream
Gå inte över ån efter vatten.
Don’t cross the stream to get water.

Usage notes

Watercourses in Sweden and the other Nordic countries are in Swedish usually referred to as bäck, å or älv. An å is usually larger than a bäck (“brook, creek”) but smaller than an älv (“large river”). A certain large bäck may however be larger than a certain small å, and a certain large å may be larger than a certain small älv. The word to use about a certain watercourse is often included as part of its name: Göta älv, Stångån. There are regional differences in whether watercourses of a certain size tend to have å or älv in their names. All älvar are found north of Göteborg, but that is also where the largest rivers in Scandinavia are found. For some rivers in southern Sweden the word ström is used, since that is the watercourse word included in their names. Rivers in other parts of the world are usually referred to with the word flod, which is a more neutral word for any watercourse larger than a bäck.

Declension

Declension of å
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	å	ån	åar	åarna
Genitive	ås	åns	åars	åarnas

Etymology 3

From Old Norse á, from Proto-Germanic *ana.

Preposition

å

(obsolete except in certain expressions) on

Usage notes

å is generally an older form of på, which derives from the compound upp +‎ å. Compare English 'pon.

Derived terms

fara å färde
på
uppå
å andra sidan
åberopa
å det grövsta
å det snaraste
å ena sidan
åklagare
ålägga
ånyo
å någons vägnar
åsamka
åsido
åskådare
åskådliggöra
åsyn
åverkan