A

The letter A (named /?e?/, plural As, A's, as, a's or aes[nb 1]) is the first letter and the first vowel in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.[1] It is similar to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives.[2] The upper-case version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lower-case version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ?. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children. It is also found in italic type.