also AAA, abbreviation of American Automobile Association, attested 1902, American English, the year the organization was founded.

also aard-vark, South African groundhog, 1833 (in German from 1824), from Afrikaans Dutch aardvark, literally "earth-pig" (it burrows), from aard "earth," from Proto-Germanic *ertho- (see earth (n.)) + vark "pig," from Middle Dutch varken "small pig," which is reconstructed to be from Proto-Germanic *farhaz (source also of Old High German farah, German Ferkel "young pig, sucking pig," a diminutive form; Old English fearh), from PIE root *porko- "young pig."

also aard-wolf, "small, insectivorous mammal native to East and Southern Africa, related to the hyena," 1833, from Afrikaans Dutch aardwolf, literally "earth-wolf," from aard "earth" (see earth (n.)) + wolf "wolf" (see wolf (n.)).

masc. proper name, in the Old Testament the brother of Moses, from Hebrew Aharon, which is said to be probably of Egyptian origin. The Arabic form is Harun. Related: Aaronic. Aaron's beard as a popular name for various plants (including St. John's wort and a kind of dwarf evergreen) deemed to look hairy in some way is from 1540s. Aaron's rod is from 1834 in botany, 1849 in ornamentation; the reference is biblical (Exodus vii.19, etc.).

the usual form of ab- before -c-, -q-, or -t-.

word-forming element meaning "away, from, from off, down," denoting disjunction, separation, departure; from Latin ab (prep.) "off, away from" in reference to space or distance, also of time, from PIE root *apo- "off, away" (also the source of Greek apo "off, away from, from," Sanskrit apa "away from," Gothic af, English of, off; see apo-).

The Latin word also denoted "agency by; source, origin; relation to, in consequence of." Since classical times usually reduced to a- before -m-, -p-, or -v-; typically abs- before -c-, -q-, or -t-.

affixed to a name, abbreviation of Modern Latin Artium Baccalaureus "Bachelor of Arts" (see bachelor), 1773, American English. British English preferred B.A., perhaps because A.B. was used in Britain to mean able-bodied on seamen's papers.

"in bed," c. 1200, contraction of Old English on bedde "in bed," from a- (1) + dative of bed (n.).

colloquial shortening of abdominals, by 1992.

outer garment of coarse, woolen stuff, of a type worn in Arabia and Syria, 1811, from Arabic. Also of the cloth it is made from (often goat or camel hair).