a digraph in Latin representing either a native diphthong, as in æquus, or a Greek αι (ai) in Latinized spellings, as in Æschylus: now usually written ae, or e in some words, such as demon
2.
a ligature used in Old and early Middle English to represent the vowel sound of a in cat
3.
a ligature used in modern phonetic transcription also representing the vowel sound a in cat
ae. in British English
abbreviation for
aetatis
Word origin
Latin: at the age of; aged
A.E. in British English
or AE
noun
the pen name of (George William) Russell
Æ in American English
or A.E.
see Russell2 (sense 3)
æ in American English
(i; ɪ; ɛ)
noun
1.
a ligature used to represent a diphthong in some Latin words, equivalent to ai in Greek, usually written æ or replaced by e in modern spelling of derived English words, as in demon (daemon), ether (aether), etc. and pronounced ( (i) , ; ɪ) , or (ɛ) )
2.
an Old English ligature representing a low front unrounded vowel like that in Modern English hat
see also ash2 (sense 3)
3.
a character in the International Phonetic Alphabet and some other transcription systems, representing this low front unrounded vowel