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atomic (used in combination): A-bomb; A-plant.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

a reduced form of the Old English preposition on, meaning “on,” “in,” “into,” “to,” “toward,” preserved before a noun in a prepositional phrase, forming a predicate adjective or an adverbial element ( afoot; abed; ashore; aside; away ), or before an adjective ( afar; aloud; alow ), as a moribund prefix with a verb ( acknowledge ), and in archaic and dialectal use before a present participle in -ing ( set the bells aringing ); and added to a verb stem with the force of a present participle ( ablaze; agape; aglow; astride; and originally, awry ).

Origin:
Middle English, late Old English; cf. a², nowadays

00:10

A- is always a great word to know.

So is callithumpian. Does it mean:

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

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a reduced form of the Old English preposition of: akin; afresh; anew.

Origin:
Middle English; see a³

an old point-action prefix, not referring to an act as a whole, but only to the beginning or end: She arose (rose up). They abided by their beliefs (remained faithful to the end).

Origin:
Middle English; Old English a- (unstressed), ǣ-, ā-, ō- (stressed; see abb, woof¹, oakum), rarely or- (see ordeal) ≪ Germanic *uz- < unstressed Indo-European *uss- < *ud-s, akin to out; in some cases confused with a-⁴, as in abridge

variant of ab- before p and v: aperient; avert.

Origin:
Middle English < Latin ā-, a- (variant of ab- ab-); in some words < French a- < Latin ab-, as in abridge

variant of ad-, used: (1) before sc, sp, st ( ascend ) and (2) in words of French derivation (often with the sense of increase, addition): amass.

Origin:
Middle English, in some words < Middle French a- < Latin ad- prefix or ad preposition (see ad-), as in abut; in others < Latin a- (variant of ad- ad-), as in ascend

variant of an-¹. before a consonant, meaning “not,” “without”: amoral; atonal; achromatic.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To a-

Collins

World English Dictionary

a- or (before a vowel) an-¹

—*prefix*
	not; without; opposite to: atonal; asocial

[from Greek a-, an- not, without]

an- or (before a vowel) an-¹

—*prefix*

[from Greek a-, an- not, without]

a-²

—*prefix*
1.	on; in; towards: afoot; abed; aground; aback
2.	literary, archaic or (used before a present participle) in the act or process of: come a-running; go a-hunting
3.	in the condition or state of: afloat; alive; asleep

an- or (before a consonant) a-

—*prefix*
	not; without: anaphrodisiac

[from Greek]

a- or (before a consonant) a-

—*prefix*

[from Greek]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

in native (derived from O.E.) words, it most commonly represents O.E. an "on" (see a (2)), as in alive, asleep, abroad, ashore, etc., forming adjectives and adverbs from nouns; but it also can be M.E. of, as in anew, abreast (1590s); or a reduced form of O.E. pp. prefix ge-, as

in aware; or the O.E. intens. a-, as in arise, awake, ashame, marking a verb as momentary, a single event. In words from Romanic languages, often it represents L. ad- "to, at."

"[I]t naturally happened that all these a- prefixes were at length confusedly lumped together in idea, and the resultant a- looked upon as vaguely intensive, rhetorical, euphonic, or even archaic, and wholly otiose." [OED]

prefix meaning "not," from L. a-, short for ab "away from" (cf. avert), or its cognate, Gk. a-, short for apo "away from, from," both cognate with Skt. apa "away from," Goth. af, O.E. of.

prefix meaning "not," from Gk. a-, an- "not," from PIE base *ne "not" (see un-).

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

a- or an-
pref.
Without; not: acellular.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

a-
A prefix meaning "without" or "not" when forming an adjective (such as amorphous, without form, or atypical, not typical), and "absence of" when forming a noun (such as arrhythmia, absence of rhythm). Before a vowel or h it becomes an- (as in anhydrous, anoxia).

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"Salad is roughage and a French idea."

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