What does the "a" in the html <a> tag stand for?

Question

As most of you know, the <a> tag is (mostly) used in html to make a hyperlink like

<a href="page.html">Click me</a>

But I've always wondered what the "a" in the <a> tag actually stands for.

Solution 1

a stands for anchor. As easy as that!

Solution 2

According to HTML Documentation part 4.5.1 the <a> tag refers to a HTMLAnchorElement

Solution 3

Stands for anchor tag. The tag defines a hyperlink, which is used to link from one page to another.

The most important attribute of the element is the href attribute, which indicates the link's destination.

Comments

[Mr Lister]

You would have gotten your answer far quicker if you had just typed your question into Google.

[Goose]

@MrLister I got to this page from google. This question and answers were useful to me.

[Craig Silver]

Yup, IMO, this page adds value to the Internet because when searching for "html what does a stand for", this page comes to the top, answering simply and specifically, while others do not--at least not on the first page.

[hansvb]

Note that a tags are (or used to be) used to to define the anchor (where the link lands, via the name attribute) as well as the outgoing link (via the href attribute).

[Matías Fidemraizer]

@Thilo BTW OP isn't asking about how to use <a> but what is a as is

[hansvb]

Right, and I think the word anchor makes a lot more sense with the other use (to anchor an incoming link), so I thought I would point that out, especially since many people don't know that use (and it is sort of deprecated now that you can use id tags on anything).